Broken Dolls
by baby-kitsune9
Summary: it's still the same story. kakashi walked into their trap, he hadn't had a choice. Naru was in trouble. and now she would pay a heavy price for his failure. SAME STORY this is a rape fic that leads to eventual Kakashi/FEM Naru. It's rate M for a reason
1. Chapter 1

Hello kittens-

I know that some of you have read this already, however I feel the need to post the story again because it was deleted from the site for no real good reason. Apparently the admin of the Fanfiction site, read their e-mails.

But not the stories that they are _told_ _abuse_ the guidelines for posting stories.

So, just to piss some people off. I'm going to re write Broken Dolls from scratch.

Because there are a lot of douches who read my stuff and have trouble telling _fiction_ from _reality_. So-

What was once the first chapter of broken dolls will be nothing but flash backs off and on through the story.

It's still a what _if_ story.

And for those of you who never read the original story heres a quick recap.

{Kakashi had walked right into the enemies trap. He had felt that he had no other choice. They had Naru and he simply couldn't let them kill her. However the terms for her release were this, He had to rape her or they would kill make him watch her being used by their friends until they killed them both.

Desperate to save her no matter what _condition_ she may be in after wards, Kakashi agreed figuring that he would have the rest of his life to try and make it up to her. But just to be sure that they would keep their end of the bargain, he made them sign a demon contract in their blood to bind them to their promise to let them go.}

So now that that is out of the way, here is the story. It takes place two days after the incident. Enjoy.

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Kakashi sat in the back of the wagon that he had flagged down earlier, his mind still reeling with hatred and shock from what he had done.

He felt sick that he had let this happen. And even sicker that he had actually gone through with the rogue nin's demands and hurt his former student in one of the most unforgivable ways imaginable. The worst part of it all had been when Naru had looked up at him with such a-a _betrayed_ look on her pretty face.

He had started crying because of that look. Because he had sworn in the valley of ends when she had gone after Sauske that he would never, ever do _anything_ to hurt her or shut her out again. And now he had broken his promise.

He was scum.

No.

He was worse than scum.

He glanced at Naru's still form, guilt eating away at his heart and mind, she lay curled up on her side among the golden straws of hay just barely an inch from him where he had put her.

She had been like this for the past two days since the incident. Since he had thought to spare her as much of the_ pain_ and _humiliation_ as he could and had put her to sleep as soon as he had been able too.

He had been carrying her dead weight ever since. Longing to get her back to the village as quickly as he could so that he could get her the help that she needed. But the trip was going so slowly, and his strength had finally started to give out from the lack of food and proper rest that he hadn't taken the time out for since he had picked her up and walked out them both of that _hell hole_.

He sighed and leaned back against the side of the wagon and tipped his head back and looked at the sky.

It was sunny and warm today. Nothing at all like yesterday when it had rained all day and night, forcing him to camp out under a tree with Naru wrapped in his arms, trying to keep her warm even though he felt so cold and numb inside.

He still felt cold and numb.

As if his heart itself had stopped beating and his body was running on autopilot against his will. He looked at Naru again and reached out a shaky, dirty hand and ran his fingers through her thick, silken, nearly waist length strawberry blond hair. Trying to comb out some of the tangles in an effort to comfort...her?

Himself?

He didn't really know who needed the contact the most anymore. Her, for being defiled. Or him, for being the one who had defiled her.

All he knew was that his need to touch Naru was deeply rooted by their shared trauma.

He kept needing to remind himself that she was really there, that he had really hurt her just so that he could take her home. And that she was really _alive_ and not some phantom trick of his grief stricken mind.

He slipped his hand under her hair and placed his fingers against her throat and felt for a pulse for what had to be the hundredth time in so many minutes. And sighed in relief when he felt the soft steady thudding under his finger tips before removing them from her skin.

The first thing he needed to do once they got to a town is find a place to hole up for a while and contact Tsunade and ask for her to send a team to meet him so that he could get Naru home. Maybe ask her to send Sakura, Ino, Hinata, and Shizune to come and meet them and treat Naru. For some reason he couldn't really explain he didn't want anyone with a dick around Naru.

He was worried that being in the presence of males would send the girl over the edge and break her completely.

He reached out again and placed his fingers against the side of her throat and closed his one eye and silently counted how many times her heart beat under his finger tips and wondered how much longer he would need to wait until they were in the closest town.


	2. Chapter 2

Kakashi wasn't sure when he dozed off.

He didn't exactly recall closing his eye. All he remembered was one minute he was counting the beats of Naru's heart and the next thing he knew he was jumping almost out of his skin when the wagon came to a sudden, abrupt and jerking stop causing his body to slip sideways over into the nearest bail of hay.

Startling him wide awake and causing one hand to go for his weapon's pouch while he reached out and grabbed Naru's shirt and pulled her closer to him so that he could more easily defend her if something happened.

His heart slammed against is ribs in alarm as he saw something moving around the side of the wagon out of the corner of his eye.

And he ducked down, firmly planting his body half on top of Naru's without touching her and waited to see what would happen next as the back of the wagon dropped open and an elderly man appeared, Kakashi blinked and had to force his hand not to throw the kunai that he had in it at the man because he looked vaguely familiar to the copy nin.

"Here we are shinobi-san. The closest town."

"W-Wha?" Kakashi said unintelligibly. His mind still more than half asleep.

"We're in town..." The elder said with a bemused look on his face. "You know, the one you asked me to drop you and the _Missus_ off in." The man supplied helpfully, a concerned look crossing his face as he glanced at Naru. Kakashi bit back the urge to snarl at him.

As it was a low growling sound escaped his throat, and the elder looked back at him and promptly raised his hands into the air, palms out, to show that he meant no harm. And patiently waited for the silver haired shinobi to collect his little friend and move.

He didn't take offense to being growled at. In fact he understood that the man was worried about the girl. He had seen him checking on her off and on during the ride into town. And from the haggard look of the man himself, he and the girl must have been on a mission that had ended badly. Though the girl had only a few bruises and scratches on her, her clothes were torn and shredded.

And the fact that she hadn't _moved_ or made a _sound_ made him think that whatever had happened had been so bad that the silver haired nin had put her to sleep using genjutsu or something.

Kakashi stood up with Naru cradled in his arms and walked over to the edge and stepped off. Landing lightly next to the elder that had been kind enough to help him out, and felt a bit ashamed of himself for growling at the man. He opened his mouth to thank the old man but the guy cut him off. Surprising the copy nin with his words.

"There's a doctor just down the street. If you need him, I'll go get him for you."

Kakashi's mouth opened and closed several times as he mulled over the man's words then after a second or so he shook his head no. He knew that it was stupid not to take the help offered, but he didn't want a stranger anywhere near Naru.

As far as he was concerned they were still in enemy territory and he didn't want to risk letting Naru fall into some _sick_ person's hands again. Besides he knew that Kyubbi would have taken care of her wounds by now if she had had them.

And there was no point in exposing Naru to further humiliation at a stranger's hands. "No thanks." Kakashi said in a rough gravely sounding voice as he started walking again. He could see a hotel up the way a little bit and if he could get a room, then he'd have a place to put Naru.

A room in the back on the ground level would work.

Or maybe a room with a built in panic room or safe hidden in one of the walls. Something that he could put Naru in to protect her if they came under attack. He knew that the demon contract that he had made the rogue nins sign was still in effect. And it would be for the rest of their lives, but for the time being he'd let his paranoia run rampant.

Especially since Naru was no longer able to defend herself should the need arise, at least for the moment anyways. And one never knew what enemies could be waiting just around the corner.

He walked up to the front desk-

The guy behind the counter took one look at him in his blood stained, sweaty clothes. With an unconscious girl in his grasp, and automatically handed him a key. Kakashi shifted his hold on Naru and took the key, then put some money on the counter and walked away.

_Whoever runs this hotel must get a lot of nin's as customers-_ Kakashi thought as he walked down the hallway and stopped just outside the room that he and Naru would be sharing and carefully shifted his hold on her again and opened the door. And did a quick sweep of the space that he and Naru would be inhabiting until help came.

It looked like a honeymoon suite. There was one window, one _huge_ bed with white satin sheets on it-

_What the hell had the guy at the front desk been thinking?_ He wondered as he curled his lip back from his teeth under his mask and had to slowly count to ten to keep from setting Naru down and ripping those pristine white sheets on the bed, to pieces.

There was a vanity, a dresser, and a bathroom...

Speaking of. He glanced down at Naru.

He needed to get her cleaned up before he could do anything else. First he'd clean Naru up, then he'd have to find something for her to wear.


	3. Chapter 3

Kakashi's task of cleaning Naru up was a horrible and grim one. Because he was made to relive everything that he had done to her in that damn place every time he saw a bruise, or a scratch. His breath would hitch in his throat and his heart would contract painfully in his chest and he would find himself torn between breaking down and crying and the strong urge to puke until he started vomiting blood.

It was horrifying for him to see such strong evidence of his crime against his former student. And he hated it almost as much as he now hated himself. Yet he didn't stop. He simply couldn't. Even though he felt as if he were slowly losing his mind.

As soon as he had her shredded pants and her torn shirt off he grabbed several towels and used the biggest one to wrap Naru's semi naked body in it, covering her to the best of his ability when he was shaking so violently that he couldn't stop. Once that was done he carefully lifted her up and stepped over to the shower and turned on the water and fixed it so that it would be a comfortable warm instead of scalding hot.

Just because he felt the need to scrub himself until _he_ bled in scalding water didn't mean that Naru would appreciate having the same done to her.

And her _needs_ came first.

Once the water was a comfortable warm he climbed into the shower and settled Naru in his lap, making sure to keep the towel over her body even though he hadn't stripped her completely naked and had left her in her bra and panties. And fumbled for the soap for a second before managing to grab it and started rubbing it into the skin of her shoulders, her back, her neck.

He took the time to clean the dirt out from under her finger nails, and to scrub the dirt and grime from her pretty face. He tried to wash her while leaving her some dignity.

Staying well away from her breasts and below the waist line. And once the water ran clear he decided to tackle her hair and found some scented shampoo that smelled like wild flowers and washed her hair then carefully got to his feet, with her still tightly held in his arms and switched the soaked towel out with a clean dry one and sat down on the toilet and started to dry her off.

Then when he was done with that he dried her hair a bit and used his fingers to comb out the tangles until she looked more like herself and less like the fragile creature who had become a victim to the manipulations of shinobi without honor.

And the entire time he was drying her off, he talked to her.

His voice shook, and broke a little more each breath he took. Yet he couldn't stop talking.

He told her that this wasn't her fault. That everything that had happened was entirely his fault.

He was a failure as a friend, a teacher, and a shinobi.

He told her that he hadn't wanted to hurt her, but he hadn't seen any way around it. He knew that she wouldn't understand.

Just like he would understand if she hated him. Just like he would understand if she asked for him to pay for his sin with his _life_.

He apologized to her over and over and over again. He put his pride aside and begged her to forgive him even though he knew that he wasn't worthy of her forgiveness.

He told her that he would do anything she asked of him. Anything at all no matter how _damning_ it may be if she would just _please_ let him stay with her and try to make things up to her. No matter how _impossible_ what he asked for may be.

He talked to Naru until he was crying his heart out, his words a broken garbled mess. Never really aware that someone was listening to his intimate conversation with the person that he had wronged.

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Kyubbi listened to the wolf as he wept for her kit. She had been listening for a while now. Off and on since her kit had retreated into herself since she had been hurt by her most trusted comrade.

She had known the terms for her kit's release, and had tried to ease her kit's pain to the best of her abilities so that she would feel as little as possible, yet her kit had remained aware of everything the entire time. Only truly withdrawing into herself after the wolf had finished raping her.

And while Kyubbi wasn't happy about the arrangement that the wolf had agreed too she knew what the male had been thinking. Damaged was better than dead.

Because damaged things could be fixed and healed. While dead things couldn't be fixed or healed.

And to an extent Kyubbi had approved of the wolfs choice. Only the slightest bit.

But now that she understood things better, then maybe she could do something to help the wolf and her kit since her kit wasn't the _only_ one suffering. She turned her head and looked at her kit, laying curled up on the floor of her cage several feet away from her side.

Maybe she could seal away her kits memories until she would be better able to deal with her pain. And if the wolf was as sincere about making things right as he seemed to be, then her kit would be in good hands.

But if he hurt her kit again...

She'd kill him.


	4. Chapter 4

I've had a horrible week kittens.

First my credit card was stolen and someone used it to purchase strange things, and then a woman got into a car accident outside of my house.

I'm not totally sure, but I think she died. She had a death rattle when she breathed. And to make things even worse, she was pregnant.

That was two days ago, and I still feel sick...

Anyways, it's been a while since I wrote something for this story and I keep losing my train of thought.

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After cleaning Naru, Kakashi sent for one of the hotel employee's to go shopping for him. He asked that the person who would run his errand was a _female_, because aside from his own clothes, Kakashi needed to get some new and clean clothes for Naru so that she could rest more comfortably.

Once that was out of the way Kakashi went into the bathroom to clean himself up. The first thing he did once in the bathroom was jerk his mask off and look at himself in the mirror.

It was startling how different he looked to himself.

He looked like a total stranger with his mismatched eyes rimmed red from all of the crying he'd been doing, his silver hair stringy and matted with sweat and grime, his face was paler than usual, his jaw dusted with faint silvery hairs.

He looked like he'd aged five years in the past two nights. _Maybe if I keep aging like this I'll disappear and then Naru would never have to see my pathetic lying face again. _Kakashi thought as he ran his hand along the side of his jaw, feeling the two days growth covering his face and sigh.

He needed a shave. _Badly_.

But the second he caught himself starting to look for a razor, he stopped himself. If he touched a razor in his present state of mind; he'd probably slit his own throat. Which left him feeling more than a little lost about what to do with himself.

After a few minutes of mentally debating with himself he descided to skip shaving until he felt a little bit more stable and instead stripped out of his clothes and climbed into the shower and just stood there under the spray letting the warmth unknot and sooth his tired, stiff muscles.

He grabbed the soap and started scrubbing the dirt and grime from his skin, taking the time to clean under his fingernails, before grabbing the bottle of shampoo and lathering his hair up. Using his nails to scrub at the stubborn filth clinging to his scalp, ripping out some of the silken strands while he was at it.

He scrubbed himself from top to bottom five times. Three to get the dirt and grime off of him and twice more because he'd started to freak out a little bit again. And by the time he was done his skin had bloody reddish pink places all over and he was shaking a little bit as he tried to _breathe_ through his panic.

It took a little doing and a lot more will power than he was aware that he had, but he finally managed to calm himself down and climbed out of the shower feeling almost just as tense as he had when he went in.

He sat down on the edge of the tub and buried his face in his hands and took one shuddering breath after another until he heard a knock on the room door outside. He jerked his head up and got to his feet and walked out of the bathroom and over to the room door and opened it a crack and peered through the sliver at a safe distance just in case someone decided to try and stab him in the eye with a kunai or something and blinked at the woman standing in the hallway with her arms full of clothes.

He gave a small inward sigh of relief that she wasn't an enemy nin and told her to hold on a second then ran for the bathroom so that he could grab his pants.

The woman's stay was brief, consisting of a little bit of conversation, an offer to dress Naru- Which Kakashi gratefully accepted since he didn't want to undress Naru from the dirty, torn panties and bra and then re dress her. Every time he touched her now, he felt like he was taking liberties that he shouldn't.

He retreated to the bathroom, leaving the door open a crack so that he could check on the two if necessary while the woman changed Naru, and pulled on the clothes that the woman had gotten for him.

The clean clothes made his skin itch, but other wise was comfortable. The royal blue long sleeved cotton shirt fit without restricting his movements. The black cargo pants hung a little low on his hips, but were comfortable enough.

He heard the room door open and then close, and quickly moved over to the door and pushed it open so that he could check on Naru. The woman must have finished and decided to leave without distubing him. She was no where to be seen.

While Naru was neatly tucked into the bed, her strawberry blond hair had been brushed and pulled into a thick braid that hung over one of her slender shoulders. Curious to know what sort of outfit the woman had brought for his former student, Kakashi walked over to the bed and gently pulled the covers back and then blinked in shock.

The woman had picked out one of the most lovely dresses Kakashi had ever seen before for Naru. The white summer dress was sleeveless with a heart shaped bodice with pastel pink and blue and green beaded flowers and stems and little blue and lavender butterflies along the lankle length hem of the skirt.

Naru looked beautiful.

Kakashi frowned and pulled the blanket back over his former student as he wondered just what the hell the woman had been thinking when he'd sent her to get them clothes. Couldn't she have gotten Naru something more practical? He shook his head and sat down on the edge of the bed. It didn't matter, he supposed.

All that mattered now was thinking up a way to help Naru recover and sending a message to the village to let Tsunade know that they were alive and needed help.


	5. Chapter 5

WARNING!

CUTTING IN THIS CHAPTER!

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Kakashi thought for a little bit before figuring that he would make a special request for either Sakura or Shizune to come with the recovery team and look over Naru to make sure that her wounds were completely healed.

After that he summoned Pakkun and gave him his instructions and told him that it would take at least three days to reach the village. He needed the little pug to run as fast and hard as he could without wasting time. He felt it very important that Naru was looked over _before_ she woke up.

The first day went by easily enough for Kakashi.

He finally managed to eat something and grab a few winks before waking up and then going to shave his face. He had a little bit of a breakdown in the evening while grabbing another nap.

He'd had a nightmare about what had happened with Naru and woke up covered in sweat, a scream lodged in his throat. He jerked himself upright so that he was sitting on the floor next to the bed, where he had taken up sleeping like a faithful dog or cat close to it's master, and glanced over at Naru who was still laying asleep on the bed.

He ran his fingers through his silver hair then wiped the sweat out of his eyes and decided that it was time to get up. He got to his feet and paced around the room, trying to work off some of the nervous energy churning inside of him.

An hour passed. Then two and he just couldn't seem to unwind.

He felt like a bow string, stretched taunt, dangerously close to _breaking_ in half.

He needed to regain control before he lost his sense of self. Because he was dangerous when he lost his sense of self and Naru was currently too defenseless to fight him off if he was to come at her.

He retreated to the bathroom and closed and locked the door, sensing that if he didn't put some sort of barrior between himself and Naru; then something even more _horrible_ than her rape might occure.

The door wouldn't stop him, but it might slow him down. Depending on how far gone his mind was when he lost control.

He looked around for something, recalling that bleeding himself sometimes helped him focus enough to regain control of himself and caught sight of the straight razor that he'd used earlier to shave. Reaching out he grabbed it and flicked the blade open and then rolled up his shirt sleeves and put the blade against his wrist telling himself that he didn't need to cut deep, certainly not enough to be life threatening, but he did _need_ to cut.

He applied pressure and ran the cool metal along the inside of his wrist until crimson welled up and ran down his wrist. He closed his eyes as the sting registered in his mind. This was good. But it could be better.

So he cut deeper. Not deeply enough to slice open his veins, but deeply enough to leave scars once the wound healed. He finished quickly and was about to put the razor away when he caught sight of his reflection in the mirror above the sink.

The sight of his face turned his stomach. His hand started to shake- This was no good. He was getting stressed again.

He put the razor against his arm again, this time against his forearm and started slashing almost wildly at his skin, stopping only when he started to get light headed. He wrapped his arm in some gauze bandages that he'd had in his small medical kit then rinsed the razor off and closed it and then set it on the counter before going to work on cleaning the blood on the floor with one of the hotel rags then disposed of it by using his chakra to burn it.

Once he was done he left the bathroom feeling a little dizzy, shakey, and _so_ much better than he had before. Shortly after that, he laid back down and went back to sleep.

This time he didn't dream.

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Kakashi woke up the next day feeling well rested and...in pain.

He pushed himself upright and looked down at his right arm as he felt something trickle down his forearm towards his wrist and made a humming sound as vague memories of the night before flooded his mind. It had been ages, no _years_, since he'd sucummbed to the need to cut himself.

Yet it wasn't surprising to him that resent events would reduce him to this again.

He sighed and dug out some clean bandages and some ointment to put on the cuts and took a few minutes to rub the ointment into the jagged torn skin of his forearm and wrist then re wrapped his arm before getting up to go order something to eat.

He was half way across the room when Naru made a little groaning sound, giving him pause. He stopped cold in his tracks and turned his head to look at her, his mind stuttering to a stop for a moment before kicking into overdrive. _Oh god-_ He looked around for somewhere to hide. The dread and horror from the previous days returning full force as it occured to him that Naru might be waking up.

Naru groaned again she lifted her arms and placed her hands against her face to rub at her eyes, and Kakashi's eyes widened to the size of saucers as what little color he'd regained in the past day or so, faded away leaving him as white as a sheet.

He couldn't do this.

He couldn't do this.

He couldn't face Naru!

Not yet! He wasn't ready! It was _cruel_ to ask either of them to be able to face each other so soon!

She made another sound and dropped her hands away from her face as her eyes fluttered open. Kakashi's heart slammed against his ribs in alarm and he was dangerously close to hyperventilating.

This was it! This was the part where Naru would wake up and look at him and start screaming and going into hysterics. This was the part where she would scream that she hated him and tell him that he was trash and seal his fate.

That was what he expected. He didn't however exprect her to say, "Mornin Kashi-sensi... Did I sleep in again?"


	6. Chapter 6

_This was the part where Naru would wake up and look at him and start screaming and going into hysterics. This was the part where she would scream that she hated him and tell him that he was trash and seal his fate._

_That was what he expected._

_He didn't however exprect her to say, "Mornin Kashi-sensi... Did I sleep in again?"_

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Kakashi gaped at her and shook his head as if to clear it before managing to croak out an unintelligible, "W-Wha?" As Naru slowly pushed herself up in bed, letting the covers slip from around her shoulders to pool around her waist as she rubbed her eyes again.

"I said, did I sleep in again?" Naru asked as she looked around the room and frowned before asking, "Where are we?"

Kakashi shook his head again and continued to gape. He couldn't help himself. He was sure that his ears and eyes were playing tricks on him. Naru was supposed to be_ yelling_ at him. Was supposed to be_ hysterical_. Was supposed to absolutely _hate_ him.

Yet she wasn't yelling. Wasn't hysterical. Didn't seem to hate him.

What the hell was going on here? He wondered as he looked around the room. His shinobi paranoia kicking in.

The situation no longer made sense to him. There was supposed to be yelling and screaming; he'd expected yelling and screaming. Was he dead? He wondered all of a sudden, painc rising in his chest.

Had he cut too deeply the night before and bled to death and somehow ended up in a hell of his own making? A hell where Naru had suffered at his hand and _still_ didn't hate him. Or had he finally come unhinged?

Gone stark raving mad?

He felt a soft touch on his unwounded arm and jerked, his head tilting so that he was looking down a little bit and blinked his wide mismatched eyes as Naru's worried face filled his vision. "Kakashi-sensei are you okay?"

"Y-Yes." _No. Definitely not._

There was a chance that he was either dead or insane. What person would be okay under _those_ conditions? He wondered as Naru dropped her hand away from his arm and gave him another worried look.

Kakashi bit his bottom lip in an effort not to whimper. _Don't look at me like that. Don't look at me like I'm still worthy of your affections, Naru._ She had no idea how much she was hurting him by pretending to still care about him after what he'd done.

Naru studied her former sensei with a concerned look on her pretty face. She didn't know what was up with Kakashi, but the man looked like he'd just had a run in with a ghost. It was troubling to say the least.

She sighed and looked down and blinked at what she was wearing. _What the-_ Where the heck did this dress come from? And what was she doing wearing it? She looked up at Kakashi whom hadn't moved or even breathed in the past minute or so and frowned. "Hey sensei. Are we on a mission?"

Kakashi didn't answer her. He just continued to stare at her.

Naru made an irritated sound and reached out and pushed against his chest to get his attention and yelped when he smacked her hand away from him then snapped at her. "Don't fucking touch me Naru!"

Naru rubbed the stinging spot on the back of her hand and frowned. "Alright, alright. I won't touch you. But you should at least answer me."

Kakashi frowned as he looked at her, his mind not quite running on all four cylinders yet. "What was the question?" Kakashi asked after a moment or so of hesitation. Naru gave him a funny look.

"I asked if we were on a mission."

"No."

"Then what happened to my normal clothes?"

Kakashi was quiet for a second. "T-They were stolen." Naru gave him a funny look.

"Stolen?" Kakashi nodded his head slowly.

"By who?" Naru asked after a second or so. Kakashi shrugged his shoulders helplessly. God he never should have opened his mouth, Naru was looking at him like he was crazy. He bit back a hysterical giggle as his mind whispered. _That's because you are crazy._

"Some naked guy I guess."

Naru gave him a _look_. One of those 'uh-huh' looks with a side of 'I totally believe you'. The kind that made him feel old and nervous at the same time. She didn't ask any more questions about her clothes, and instead asked about breakfast since she hadn't eaten in the past few days Kakashi figured that breakfast was a much safer topic to argue about.

Although it didn't stop him from pinching himself repeatedly once her back was turned.


	7. Chapter 7

Kakashi kept pinching himself off and on through breakfast.

When he wasn't giving Naru awkward smiles and pained looks, that its. He finally stopped pinching himself when he was able to determine that he wasn't asleep. Which meant that he wasn't dreaming.

And everything felt so real to him that he could only be _alive_. But knowing that didn't really answer his questions. Like; had he finally lost his mind? Was he crazy? Or what was going on with Naru?

What did her lack of memory mean? Had she been so traumatised by what he'd done that she'd supressed the memory of it? Or did it have something to do with Kyubbi? And did Naru _really_ not remember?

That was the muti million dollar question right there. The one that tormented Kakashi endlessly. Did she really not remember?

Because if it was true that she really had forgotten, then it meant that she was stuck in her previous mind set. To her, mentally, _nothing_ had happened. While to him _everything_ was different.

Everything was darker. And less forgiving.

_I hope Pakkun comes back soon_. Kakashi thought as Naru finished off the vanilla and cinnamon parfate that he'd ordered for her when she'd asked for one earlier, then sat back in her seat.

"So sensei-" Kakashi visibly cringed in his seat. Naru didn't really notice though. "What are we going to do now?" Naru asked curiously as she looked at him, her wide violet eyes boring into his skull. He stared at her for several heartbeats, trying hard to resist reminding her that she should hate him right now, but some how managed to hold his tongue as he mulled over her question.

He didn't know what to tell her.

And telling her that he had nothing in mond was a recipe for disaster since she'd probably want to go out. Which meant that he'd have to go with her and protect her from any unknown enemies lurking around, all while protecting her from herself.

So he told her the truth. That they were waiting for a team to meet up with them and escort them home. Naru frowned a little bit at his explination, but didn't ask any questions.

She probably felt that she wouldn't understand why they needed to be escorted back to the village anyways.

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Pakkun made it to the Leaf village around one thirty on the second day before collapsing at the feet of Maito Gai who took the time out from his busy schedule to scoop the exhausted little pug up and rush him straight to Tsunade's office after giving Neji a quick order to go get the village vet, Hana Inuzuka. So that she could treat Pakkun if he was wounded.

It was a smart move on Gai's part considering the delicacy of the information that he was to deliver. But once he was looked over and allowed to rest a little bit, Pakkun woke up laying in Tsunade's lap, the Hokage's hand stroking his fur as she spoke to Sakura, Sai, and Tenzou in low tones.

Pakkun groaned and shook his head as shifted in Tsunade's lap. "Pakkun? Are you feeling better now?" Tsunade asked in a curious tone as the small pug nodded his head and quietly climbed up onto her desk.

"Good-" Tsunade said in a peculiarly soft tone. "Report. How are Kakashi and Naru doing? Do they need help?"

"Before I start Lady Tsunade, could you please ask Tenzou and Sai to leave the room. What I have to say is very delicate information and Kakashi told me to tell only medic nins." Tsunade looked at Sakura and Shizune then looked at Tenzou and Sai and gave them an apologetic look.

Tenzou gave the Hokage a strained smile then tapped Sai on the shoulder and motioned for him to follow him outside so that the medical nins could talk.


	8. Chapter 8

_"Good-" Tsunade said in a peculiarly soft tone. "Report. How are Kakashi and Naru doing? Do they need help?"_

_"Before I start Lady Tsunade, could you please ask Tenzou and Sai to leave the room. What I have to say is very delicate information and Kakashi told me to tell only medic nins." Tsunade looked at Sakura and Shizune then looked at Tenzou and Sai and gave them an apologetic look._

_Tenzou gave the Hokage a strained smile then tapped Sai on the shoulder and motioned for him to follow him outside so that the medical nins could talk._

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Tsunade, Shizune, and Sakura stared at the ninken in horror as he told them what Kakashi had told him to say. When he was done speaking he sat down on Tsunade's desk and waited for someone to say something.

However the only sound anyone made was when Sakura ran across the room to the far wall where the trash can was and wretched as her mind screamed in denial. It wasn't true! Kakashi-sensei was over the moon for Naru, he'd _never_ hurt her. Not like that!

But the conditions of a demon contract were very strict and unless they were carried out then _all_ who signed the contact and did as they were sworn to do; would die. Painfully. And horribly.

According to Pakkun Kakashi had signed the contract stating that he would rape Naru...once. In return the enemy nins had to let them go. Alive and unharmed beyond the damages already done.

Sakura wretched again as she started crying. _Oh god poor Naru._ She thought before closing her eyes and trying to breath as her mind whispered. _Poor Kakashi too. _

Shizune's only reaction was to leave the room, quietly closing the door behind her. Leaving Tsunade and Sakura to deal with the situation as best they could until she could manage to pull herself together enough to return to the office and help.

Tsunade's heart ached for her gaki. And yes, even for Kakashi.

Though the situation that they had been in wasn't ideal, she understood what Kakashi had been trying to do. And she could forgive him for it. In time. Depending on the condition the two were in once they returned.

She took several deep breaths to calm herself before asking in a strained tone. "Is there anything else that Kakashi told you to tell us?" Pakkun nodded his head.

"Yes. He also told me to tell you that when the rape occurred, Naru was ovulating-" Tsunade's face went ashen as Sakura jerked herself upright and turned to look at the little dog so fast that she almost fell. "Kakashi said that he tried to pull out of her, but one of the nins stopped him by pushing down on his back with his foot. He then told him that if he withdrew that he'd have to rape Naru all over again."

Tsunade closed her eyes and buried her face in her hands for a moment. God this was horrible. No, this was _beyond_ horrible. She didn't know what to do. Sure she could assemble a team to go meet with the two and send a medic or two to look the girl over, but other than that, they would have to tred carefully.

They had no idea about Kakashi's mental state- Since he was the one that Naru most trusted and he was forced to harm her. Tsunade could only assume that the Copy nin, was now _ruined_. The second he was back in the village, she'd have him retire as a ninja and let him find what little happiness he could while they did what they could for Naru.

"Alright... I understand. Can you tell me what condition Naru was in before you left?"

"Her condition? I'm not entirely sure what you mean. She looked fine." Pakkun said as he tilted his head to the side a little bit. Tsunade frowned.

That didn't sound right. From what she knew of rape victims, they were overly emotional. Sometimes having difficulty processing everything that they felt. Some of them cried and grieved as if they were dying. Some became self destructive and would hurt themselves.

Some became unnatrually anger- The list went on and on. But right now, all she was worried about was if Naru was becoming self destructive and suicidal.

"What exactly was she doing when you left?"

"Sleeping."

Tsunade blinked at his answer as it occurred to her that if Naru was sleeping like Pakkun said, then maybe Kakashi had placed her under a jutsu so that she would sleep until help arrived. _Thank god for small miracles_. Tsunade thought as she nodded her head in understanding.

"Alright then. Thank you Pakkun. Please rest a while longer while I assemble a team to meet with Kakashi and Naru and escort them back."


	9. Chapter 9

Hello kittens- it's been a while since I updated this story and I thought it was time to get a new chapter up. However before any of you read this, I want to mention something that the goverrnement is trying to pass as a law.

It's called the protect Ip law- and I strongly suggest that all of you look it up because it could cause civil war to break out here in the US if it's passed.

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"Kakashi-sensei-" Kakashi inwardly cringed at being called sensei. After all sensei's were supposed to protect their students weren't they. And he'd failed miserably at protecting Naru. It was on the tip of his tonque to snap at her and tell her not to call him that anymore when he seemed to remember that she had no memory of what had happened and bit his tongue instead. Then once the urge to snap at her had passed, he sighed.

"Yes, Naru. What is it?"

"Why are you looking out the curtain like your paranoid?" Kakashi snorted at her silly question as his mind hissed, _Because I am paranoid_. He had every reason to be after the past few day's he'd had. And he was pretty sure that Naru would have felt the same way if she could remember anything that had occurred. He was silent for a moment or two then said logically.

"I'm looking to make sure that the sun is out." Naru looked at him from her seat on the bed and cocked her head to the left and gave him an uh-huh look before pointing to the window and saying.

"Wouldn't you know if the sun was out just by looking at the sunlight streaming through the curtain?"

"No one likes a smartass Naru." Kakashi said softly without moving a muscle. Naru frowned and wondered what was so damn fascinating outside.

"Who's being a smartass?" Naru muttered in an offended tone before continuing. "I'm merely pointing out what should already be common sense to a man your age." Naru said, hoping to get her sensei to look over at her. It didn't work. And because it didn't work, she was starting to get nervous.

"No one likes a smartass Naru." Kakashi repeated, his voice slightly tinged with something unfamiliar to her yet still noticable though she couldn't place it.

"I'm not being a smartass Kakashi-sensei. But seeing you look out the window like that is starting to make me nervous." Kakashi blinked for the first time in ten minutes and slowly turned his head to look at her. Naru looked-er, well...like herself. Though Kakashi could plainly see that she was anxiously wiping her hands on her skirt and chewing on her lower lip.

He sighed and moved away from the window to go sit down somewhere out of the way. "Sorry Naru." He said as he walked by her and crossed the room to the small table they had eaten at earlier and grabbed one of the chairs and pulled it out then let himself drop down into it and made himself comfortable. Or as comfortable as a man in his situation could be, that is.

Everything was quiet for a moment or so before Kakashi said softly in a coaxing tone. "Naru, why don't you rest for a while longer. I'm not sure when the others will be here but I imagine that the wait will be long and boring."

Naru looked at him for a second, wondering what was wrong with him but realized that whatever it was her sensei didn't want her to know about it. In fact he was going through great pains to hide something from her and while she wanted to ask him what was wrong, she got the sense that whatever it was; it was bad enough for him to keep it to himself in an effort to sheild her.

Not only that but she was sort of still tired. So maybe laying back down wouldn't hurt anything. "Okay sensei, I'll lay back down for a bit."

"Arigato, Naru." Kakashi said in a strained tone that made her pause for a second before standing up and walking over to him and stopping right in front of him. Kakashi started and looked up at her in wide eyed surprise as she reached out and started to put her hands on his face- he recoiled slightly but couldn't escape. The chair he was sitting in didn't allow for escape when someone was this close.

She put her hands on either side of his face and held him still in her gentle grip and said firmly, "If you need me for anything- _Anything_ _at all_. You know I'm right here." Kakashi stared at her with his unblinking dark blue eye and slowly nodded his head in understanding. Knowing that she was trying to tell him that should he need her for any reason, she was there for him.

It made his heart ache that he couldn't say the same to her. It made him want to wrap his arms around her waist and bury his face against her dress and cry because this hurt so much.


	10. Chapter 10

Tsunade kept the briefing about the retrival of Kakashi and Naru short after pulling aside the medical nins going on the mission and informing everyone that didn't already know what had happened, of what had occurred. Then she had informed Tenzou, Sai and Shikamaru (after making them swear that they wouldn't breathe a word of what she said to anyone else) who were also going on the mission to bring Kakashi and Naru back before assigning everyone their duty and telling them to move out.

The team itself consisted of Hinata, Ino, Sakura, Shizune- All of whom would act according to what they saw in Naru's behavior and isolate her from the others since the rest of the team were male and Naru might not want them anywhere near her.

THe others of the team were Tenzou, Sai, Shikamaru, Kiba, Neji and Lee- All of whom would be charged with isolating Kakashi depending on his frame of mind. Which Tsunade was sure was not very well off at the moment.

Not that she could blame him any, the man had just been forced to make an excruciating decision about someone he held more dear than all of those damndable books he loved so much. Still he was far too important to let commit suicide. Just like Naru was.

After sending the retreival squad out and on their way with Pakkun leading them. Tsunade sat down and had a few drinks while working out small details about the two's futures. This was the sort of situation that_ ruined_ people.

Left them devastated and beyond help in some cases. And while she could lighten their load and keep them from working until they seemed well enough to do so again, she couldn't heal the wounds on their hearts.

And she cried about that. Perhaps more than she had cried about anything in a long, long time.

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Kakashi wasn't sure how he'd ended up on the bed with Naru. In fact he was pretty damn sure that he'd dozed off in the chair across the room. Which begs the question, how the hell had he wound up not only in bed with Naru, but curled around her with his hands gripping her tightly against his chest like he was trying to protect her from some unseen force?

He forced his fingers to slowly loosen their grip on her and slowly eased back from her a little bit and frowned as soon as he saw the red marks on her face from where he'd smushed her face against his vest zipper. She exhaled and it occurred to him that by holding her so tightly he might have accidentally killed her in his sleep.

Feeling more than a little rattled by the thought of smothering her in his sleep and waking up with a dead body, Kakashi made a small panicked sound and practically threw himself from the bed, jostling Naru awake with a yelp as he hit the floor and rolled taking some of the covers (the damned things were tangled around his foot) with him as he did so.

Naru sat up and blinked her eyes and stared blankly at the wall for a moment or so before flopping back down on the bed, angling her body so that she could look over the edge of the bed at Kakashi who was laying on the floor a few feet away, his face white as a sheet behind his mask, and his whole body was shaking like a leaf.

"Sensei?" Kakashi lifted his hands and covered his face for a moment and tried to get a grip on himself. It took a little longer than he would have liked since he was trying hard not to let on that something was wrong.

Yet by the time Naru seemed to wake up enough to realise that something _was_ wrong, he'd already come up with a lie and waited until she started to climb off fo the bed to come to him before holding a hand out and stopping her and saying in as level and even a voice as he could. "I'm fine Naru. I'm sorry...I just had a really bad dream..."

Naru looked like she wanted to argue but wisely stayed quiet and just sat down on the floor, with her back against the bed as he untangled himself from the covers and moved to sit with hsi back against the wall and his knees drawn up to his chest.

This time he did cry. And Naru didn't question the shocking display of emotion that was so unlike him. Instead she just sat there across from him and waited until he pulled himself together enough fopr her to get close to him.

For once since the incident, he didn't object to having her near him. Mainly because she didn't really touch him aside from slipping one hand in one of his own. He drew some comfort from the small contact. And perhaps even a little strength too.

And by the time she fell asleep again, this time wrapped in the blanket, laying on the floor with her hand still grasping his own and nothing else touching...he felt just a little bit like his old self.

Only a little.

But it was enough for him to plan out what he would do next once they were back at the village. Naru was and always had been such a sweet and kind and compassionate girl. Even now when she was damaged and couldn't recall anything- she was _still_ a sweet and kind and compassionate girl. But that would all change when she remembered.

She would be ruined then. Destroyed with no hope of ever being the same again.

And he would do anything to protect her and keep that from happening. Even if it meant turning his back on everything he had worked for or loved. Even if it meant becoming an enemy to the village.

He would make sure that Naru was never left defensless and alone ever again.


	11. Chapter 11

Pakkun was cut off from chasing a couple of squirrels again by a kunai thudding into the ground dangerously close to his face, effectively cutting off his barking while letting the long tailed furry critters he was fixated on, escape as Sai walked up from somewhere to his left and cracked his knuckles menicingly before saying, "Pakkun, there wouldn't be a reason why you're holding us up from reaching Kakashi and Naru...would there?"

Pakkun looked up at the emotionally stunnted young man and bristled a bit. "No."

"Then why are you wasting time chasing squirrels when _my_ friend needs help?" Sai asked in a deceptively calm tone as he thought of Naru and what she must be feeling at this moment in time. He didn't know what exactly was the appropriate way to react to hearing that someone that you considered your only god given friend in the world was wounded so badly, but he could easily imagine feeling pissed about the whole situation.

And maybe _irked_ by the hold up.

Pakkun flattened his ears back against his head and whimpered. It wasn't like he was holding them up on purpose. But he and the squirrels had a long standing feud going and if he even thought that he had the chance to take a few of the annoying furballs out, well, he couldn't exactly help but run off after them.

Sai bent down at the waist and picked him up by the scruff of the neck, causing the little pug to yelp and squirm in his grasp as he put his face level with Pakkun's and said in a falsely pleasant voice. "If you dare to stop and chase those damned squirrels again I will shove a paper bomb so far up your little butt that you'll choke on it before I blow you up-" Sai shook Pakkun slightly then dropped him and pointed towards the others standing thirty feet away waiting on them and growled. "Now move!"

Pakkun lowered his head and started back to the trail, grumbling about how Sai would be lucky if he piss on his feet the next time they stopped to take a short break.

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About an hour or so after Naru fell asleep again, Kakashi started going over binding oaths, blood oaths, and vows in his mind. He wanted something to bind him to Naru's side. But he didn't want to use anything that could be harmful or cause peculiar reactions.

The last thing he needed at this point was to use the wrong words and end up married to the girl in some way or another. Especially since he wouldn't be able to fight his instincts and stay the hell away from her in a sexual manner.

So he wracked his brain, trying to think while sub consciously monitoring Naru's sleep for any signs of distress. When he kept coming up blank he sighed and let his head fall back against the wall and wondered vaguely if he could use a demon contract.

Granted he'd used one to get himself and Naru away from the enemy before- but did he dare use another to try and repair some of the damage that he'd done? He wasn't sure what a demon contract would do to Naru if he failed to keep his end of things. One one hand it if he signed a demon contract swearing himself into Naru's service, it would be forever.

He would serve her in this life and every life beyond. And that was fine, he could do that no problem. But he worried that if he failed the contract would not only kill him but Naru too.

Naru shifted a little bit under the blanket and Kakashi's head came up so that he could look down at the girl as he felt a slight tug on his arm. Even now an hour later, Naru was still holding onto his hand, trying to comfort him. He reached across his lap with his free hand and gently brushed some of her hair back from her face so that he could see her better.

She looked as relaxed and content as a child with it's parent. _Silly girl._ He thought affectionately before his mind took a darker turn. God how was he going to take care of her?

Naru herself, was a trouble magnet. She never really meant any harm. Never went looking for trouble, but there was a shit load of assholes and and bastards in the world who saw her as the perfect target. The perfect target for sexual assault, bullying, torture- God the list was nearly endless.

Once word got out that Naru had been captured the villagers would waste no time in reminding her of who had made her their bitch. Which meant that once he was back at the village, he'd have a shit load of people that he would have to make disappear. Not that he minded much. He was completely committed to his service to her.

He just- Naru stirred slightly and pulled the hand holding his own, closer to her until the back of his gloved hand was against her lips. Kakashi stared down at her in shock and felt the intense need to jerk his hand from her grasp. However he stayed still, not wanting to disturb her though he was very, very uncomfortable at the moment.

"Naru?" Kakashi said her name very softly as he tugged slightly on his hand, wanting to get it away from her mouth. Feeling that his hand didn't belong anywhere near her mouth for any reason.

Naru however seemed to have other ideas since she not only tightened her hold on his hand until he thought he heard his bones cracking, but she pulled on his hand until it was somewhere under the covers along with half of his arm. He made a mental note to buy her a body pillow or a stuffed animal and tried again to extract his hand (and his arm) from her grasp when he felt something soft and curvy against the back of his hand and froze in horror.

His mind going blank.

_Oh dear god- Naru didn't- What the hell was he supposed too-_ He banged his head on the floor and lay there for a second cursing Naru's peculiar sleeping habits as he hissed in a distraught tone. "Naru, please wake up and let go of my arm!"


	12. Chapter 12

Two hours later Naru woke up and Kakashi quickly jerked his hand free of her grasp and pushed himself upright and made himself look like he was dozing or something because he didn't want to talk about how uncomfortable he'd been with the back of his hand against her breast. Naru however didn't seem to be fooled by his acting one little bit as she got to her feet and stumbled past him.

Muttering, "Nice try sensei." as she made her way past him and made a beeline for the bathroom. Once she was inside and the door was closed Kakashi sighed. God he didn't ever think that there would come a day when he would feel so grossed out by a woman's breast.

_If being with Naru is all it takes to turn a man gay then I'm_ _glad_ _something came out of this. _Kakashi thought in wry humor as he slowly got to his feet and started moving around anxiously. Gods how long could it possibly take for a retreival team of med nins to get to the town from the village? He had thought that it would take no more than a few hours, a day or so at the most depending on who had been sent.

So why weren't they here yet? He wondered as he glanced at the clock hanging on the wall a few feet away. It had only been...two days and nine hours.

He pinched the bridge of his nose to hold off the headache that he felt coming on as he mentally cursed the fact that he'd sent Pakkun.

Out of all of his dogs Pakkun was normally the most reliable, though he did sometimes have the habit of going off and doing his own thing. It wasn't often. But it did happen. Which left Kakashi feeling a little bit P.O.'d about the fact that he was stuck in the room with Naru until help got there.

Which meant that by the time the retrieval squad got there he'd be climbing the damned walls. _I need some air. _He thought tiredly. But he didn't dare leave Naru. He was afraid that if he did she might somehow remember what had happened and kill herself.

So if he left the room to go get some air, chances were good that he'd be taking her with him. Naru came out of the bathroom looking wide awake, and bored out of her mind. He supposed he could sympathize with her. After all waiting around and doing nothing was never much fun.

"Naru, would you like to go out for some air?" Kakashi asked. Naru looked at him and paused in mid step and then turned and headed right for the door. Sure that he had his answer, the copy nin walked across the room to where Naru was standing, waiting for him and grasped the door knob and puased long enough to say. "We'll not be out for long so stick close and don't talk to anyone about anything. Understood?"

Naru gave him a quizzical look but nodded her head and waited for him to open the door.

The trek out of the hotel took more time and energy than Kakashi had had in years due to the fact that it would seem that Naru was a man magnet. The moment they stepped out of their room, men of all sizes, ages, and ilks had zeroed in on her and Kakashi had had to beat them bastards back with a stick-er, potted plant that had been sitting in the hall way.

So to say that he was already genuinely _hating_ this outing would be an understatment. But Naru however didn't seem to mind the fact that he'd just left a bunch up men strewn about the hotel hall and lobbey, hopefully bleeding to death. In fact she had started teasing him about his over protectivness by playfully dubbing him her knight.

Which cut Kakashi deeper than anything that she had said so far because he knew just how much of a failure he was as her knight. They walked around for an hour or so before Naru started to get tired again, then headed back to the hotel. And Kakashi was more than happy to see that the areas he and Naru had to pass through to get to their room, was empty of anything of the male gender.

Once back at the room Naru laid down again. Kakashi supposed that her need for more rest was her body's way to heal itself without rousing suspicion. Or perhaps it was the Kyubbi trying to keep Naru from getting into trouble while she healed. He wasn't sure. But he didn't find it totally alarming just yet so pushed it from his mind and sat down somewhere to think some more on binding oaths and vows.

Finally after about forty five minutes or so an idea occurred to him and he got up and nervously approached Naru and laid a hand over her stomach and focused his chakra to establish a connection and the next thing he knew he was standing in front of a massive cage. The bars were as thick as trees and the doors that held the monsterous entity inside, were well over five hundred and sixty feet high. And took up more than thirty nine miles in width.

He blinked at first. Because all he could see was inky blackness both outside of the cage and inside. _Where is Kyubbi?_ He wondered a second before a vivid light appeared inside of the cage. The color was white at first then it started to change from red to orange to plae blue and green then to a yellow that was so bright that it rivaled the color of his late sensei, Minato's hair.

The colors brightened and blended together as a deep rumbling sound came from the cage. **_Wolf...for what reason do you come__ here?_**

"I wish to enter into a contract with you." A pair of vivid yellow and scarlet eyes appeared before him and Kakashi found it hard not to take a few steps back in fear as Kyubbi emerged from the darkness and pressed it's nose against the gate.

**_A demon contract is a tricky thing. For what reason do you wish to enter into__ one?_**

"I'm sure that you already know my reasons why." Kakashi said in a slightly shakey tone. He caught the demon curl it's lips back from it's fangs in a bizarre parody of a smile before it answered him.

**_I do know. But before we can discuss it further, I must hear your reasons for it. _**

"I wish to enter into a demon contract, to pledge myself to Naru's service. I've done a horrible thing to her... It's only right that I take responsibility and protect her for the rest of our lives!"

**_Will you promise to never lay a hand on her again unless she wishes it?_**

"Yes."

**_And if she were to one day marry and have children-_**

"I would protect them as well."

**_You're throwing your life away-_**

"You're wrong! I'm choosing to _give_ my life away for everything! Naru is very dear to me. If the circumstances had been different, Naru would have been spared... I just want-"

**_The guilt to go away. _**

"No. I can live with the guilt. But I'd never be able to forgive myself if Naru suffered further because of this." Kakashi said as he looked down, his hands fisted at his sides.

Kyubbi tilted it's head to one side and considered him. Humans were such soft creatures. But they were also very strong and capable creatures. **_Very well, wolf. I'll create a contract with you. But there are some stipulations-_**

"Name them."

**_You'll have to share Naru's burdens... _**Kakashi gave the demon a confused look and she smiled again. There were certain things that would happen in the next few months, she couldn't tell him any of it. But she could make sure that he was equipped to face those things with her kit. **_And by burdens, I mean the fact that she is a biiju and other things as well. _**


	13. Chapter 13

**_I will create an all new biiju from my own chakra and place it within you. But you must never tell anyone of it, wolf. For if you do your contract will be broken and Naru will forever be alone... _**

Kakashi agreed to the Kyubbi's terms without question. Something that the demon found a mite funny considering that many humans thought of the wolf as more cunning and intellegent than most. And Kyubbi supposed for the most part the wolf was, but he had seemed to forgotten that she was a demon. A power like hers was almost as great as the power of the gods.

And making deals with such power, come at a very steep price if one was unable to keep their end of the bargian.

She hoped that the wolf wasn't one of those people to go back on his end of the deal. After all she doubted that he had considered what may happen once others found out that he was a new bijju. It was only a matter of time with so many people in the leaf village able to read chakra's. Which was fine as long as he never spoke of it.

But still, he had no idea what he was setting himself up for.

To protect her kit, he himself would become a target to every nut case, every sadist, every fucked up and sick human in the leaf village. She would have to make him stronger than he already was if he was going to withstand what was to come.

Otherwise the once great wolf would break and fall into pieces like so much glass...

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Kyubbi didn't warn him when it would happen. Didn't even bother telling him _how_ it would happen as they concluded their talk. Kakashi had just stood there expecting a flame red contract to appear before him, one made of the demon's chakra would be the most binding, however while waiting for it to appear he had failed to notice the swirling red chakra, looking like red orange mist floating around his legs.

Rising higher and higher by the second until he felt what could only be described as millions of tiny pin pricks licking along his skin. He looked down and paled beneath his mask and screamed as the chakra picked him up and started to push it's way into his body. Setting his insides, his blood, his marrow, and bones aflame.

He lost track of time, of everything but the searing agony that flaired through his nervous system. The process could have lasted a thousand years or just a few moments, either way Kakashi found himself laying on the floor next to the bed where Naru was-

"Kakashi! Kakashi are you okay?" Naru cried in a slightly panicked tone as her face entered his peripheral vision. She looked paler than she had a few hours ago. Was that his doing? Or was she starting to get sick or something? He wondered as his body spasmed and twitched.

Naru tried asking him if he was okay again as she placed her delicate hands on his shoulders and tried to hold him down as his body spasmed again. _Violently. _He heard her scream in a horiffied tone as his spine bowed and his body contotted. His vision faded in and out, his lungs burned. His mouth was open, trying to scream but no sound was coming out.

Or at least he thought that no sound was coming out. That little piece of information seemed beyond him at the moment.

Everything went pitch black and when his sight finally came back and he was able to breathe, he could see Naru sitting next to him with her knees drawn to her chest crying and rocking back and forth. Obviously more than a little distraught by what was happening. He lay there for several seconds, waiting for the pain to start up again and after several minutes or so when nothing happened he tried moving a little bit closer to Naru.

Instinctively seeking her closeness so that he could assure her that he was alright even if he wasn't really sure he was okay or not. He shifted until his shoulder was against her leg and almost smiled when she stopped rocking and lifted her head to look down at him, her sticken eyes looking him over.

_I'm okay Naru. Don't cry. See- _He moved his head a little bit. _I'm alive. I'm fine. _He thought before frowning and mentally adding, _My body just feels like it was set on fire and dropped off of a cliff, thats all... _Naru uncurled her body just enough to lean over him and put one hand against his throat and frowned before peeling his mask off, carefully so that she didn't wind up hurting him.

Something that he appreciated considering that the slightest jostling movement of his body hurt him to the point where it felt like his bones were coming apart in his limbs.

She pulled the stifling mask up, being careful to cradle the back of his head in one hand as she peeled the fabric from his skin, accidentally removing his headband while she was at it. He didn't care though. For once it felt like he could actually frigging _breathe_.

He took several deep breaths and opened his eyes- both of them. And looked at her. She still looked sick to him and if not for the fact that moving bugged him right now he might have patted one of his shoulders to indicate that she could curl up against him, knowing that she would want too anyways. To monitor his health.

Despite the fact that he found most major body contact with her abhorrant because of what he'd done to her. Despite the fact that he still felt sick at heart. Kakashi had already caught on to something that Naru herself wasn't aware of due to her memory loss.

Her body remembered what had happened even though she didn't and he had noticed that she instinctively sought out contact with him in an effort to feel the safety and comfort that she felt only _he_ could provide.

He wasn't sure if he wanted to _curse_ that fact or _cry_ about it.

But if safety and comfort were what she wanted from him, then he could do nothing but endure the discomfort for her sake. His eyes focused on her face and he noticed that she was staring at him in a peculiar fashion. Fear and worry laced his blood as the first thought that crossed his mind was a hysterical, _Oh god she_ _remembers!_

He gritted his teeth together and started to try and push himself up, wanting to grab her and demand what she remembered, causing his joints to pop and crack horribly when he heard her breathe, "Sensei, what happened to your Sharingan?" He froze. His expression carefully blank, belied his panic.

Had he heard her right? Something was wrong with his Sharingan?


	14. Chapter 14

Kakashi looked at himself in the piece of silver metal that Naru held up over his face so that he could see, and blinked in shock. The once scarlet eye of his fallen Uchiha friend, Obito was now an vivid emerald green. _Holy shit-_ His Sharingan was missing!

Well, maybe not missing. But it certainly looked like it was missing; what with the lack of scarlet coloing and those little comma like marks that circled the pupil.

_What the_ _hell?_ Kakashi wondered as his breath started to come out in short erratic bursts. What the fuck had the Kyubbi done to his eye? He thought hysterically as he continued to hyperventilate as Naru laid aside the sliver of metal and leaned over him and framed his face in her hands, gently and demanded, "What is going on?"

Kakashi tried to- and somehow managed to shake his head no, his face going chalk white as pain rippled down his spine. There was absolutely no way in hell he was telling her anything. She hadn't deserved what had happened to her and he wasn't going to risk bringing such horror, pain, and suffering to the surface of her memories.

_Not now. Not ever. _

He'd sooner bite off his own tongue and die first. "Kakashi-" Naru called his name in an insistant tone, still he continued to shake his head no. Finally Naru got frustrated with trying to get him to tell her what was wrong and in a tipical, yet not entirely unwarrented move, slapped him hard across the face.

His head snapped to the side, sending a jolt of pain through him and before he even realized what he was doing he heard himself shout, _"OW!" _

Hn how about that, it looked like his voice was functioning again. He mused as he took his time in turning his head back in it's original position and noted that Naru had her back plastered against the bed and was looking at him with wide apologetic/horrified eyes as she sputtered. "Oh m-my g-g-god K-K-Kak-shi I d-d-didn't m-mean-"

He sighed tiredly. "It's alright Naru. Don't worry about it." The slap may have hurt me, but that is nothing compaired to what I've done to you. Kakashi thought as he did a mental check of his body. Checking to see what he could move without hurting himself. So far he could move his toes and fingers.

Not a huge improvement but it was something.

He just wondered how much longer he'd be unable to move. He was worried that something might happen to Naru while he was flat on his back. For instance one of the reasosn's he'd been acting so paranoid since coming to the town they were in was partially because he feared that the men that had forced him to hurt Naru, may have sent someone to retrieve them for more torture.

He hoped not. But demon contracts were tricky things and he wasn't sure just how totally binding the contract he'd signed was. What if those sick fuckers somehow found a loophole and decided to exploite it?

He blinked at the thought of a loophole and wondered if maybe he could have found one to exploite himself so that he wouldn't have had to rape Naru.

The thought had never occurred to him before but now that it did...he felt so much worse for not paying closer attention. _There is little that you can do about it now Hatake. You made your choice, for better or worse, and now you have to live with what you've done. _He chidded himself as he tried a little harder to move his body.

It hurt like a son of a bitch but after about five minutes or so he was able to push himself upright and might have fallen if Naru hadn't moved away from the bed and placed herself behind him and slipped her arms around his torso.

He jumped a little, just a bit startled by her closeness and lifted one gloved hand and laid it over hers and curled his fingers around it, feeling the delicate bones under his finger tips as she sort of clumisly pulled him over to the bed and wound up trapped between him and the bed. "Maa, as much as I apprieciate the help Naru...I think you're stuck." He said in a half teasing tone.

Naru grunted and dropped her head onto his left shoulder and waited for a second or so before saying, "I think you may be right." She squirmed a little bit and tried pushing against his back in an effort to move him just enough to escape, but it was no good. He was too heavy for her to budge in her current position.

"Crap your heavy sensei." Kakashi chuckled softly at her comment, feeling some of the weight and horror of the past few days lighten just a tad.

"Sorry. I'll move...as soon as I can get my legs to work again." Kakashi said wryly. Naru lifted her head from his shoulder and shook it then dropped it back down into place on his shoulder and left it there for a while.

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sorry to be such a pest but i have a poll up for a potential story that i need feed back on desperately. it's a zombie story. if you have questions before making a choice for yea or nay then e-mail or pm me for details.

but i need a response from as many people as possible before midnight tonight. thanks


	15. Chapter 15

The second that he was able to move again, Kakashi quickly got to his feet and moved away from Naru. The blasted girl had been driving him mad for the past hour by playing with his hair. And while playing with his hair in general should have been comforting and relaxing, it hadn't been doing anything for him aside from making him twitch uncontrollably out of discomfort.

After all, prolonged physical contact with her dredged up painful memories.

So of course the absolute second he was able to move again, the first thing he did was bound across the room.

Far from her reach and leave her to work out any muscle cramps and kinks on her own. While he checked out his Sharingan eye in the bathroom mirror and maybe make sure that there was nothing else odd going on with his appearance.

He closed the door and flicked on the light so that he could see better and blinked at his own reflection.

He'd always hated looking in the mirror when he was younger. Had hated everything about his physical charcteristics when he'd been growing up due to the fact that he looked so much like his father. He had the same pale skin, silvery white hair with platinum and pale ash blond highlights, the same square shaped jaw, high cheekbones and exotically- he hated to say it but- fallen angel _beauty. _

He sub consciously peeled his lips back from his teeth in a silent snarl. God he hated refering to himself as beautiful. It was such a girly discription. Yet he couldn't deny that this is what he looked like. As annoying as it may be-

He looked himself over for a second, frowning at the disheveled and wild haired, _otherworldly_ creature staring back at him in disbelief. Was that person staring back at him, really him? He didn't look anything like the Kakashi Hatake that he had known himself as for so long. And if not for the fact that his eyes were still mismatched, he would have thought he was being pranked or something.

Sure enough his Sharingan was missing-er sort of. The once scarlet was now a deep, vivid emerald green. He leaned forward a little bit and squinted as he examined the bizarre color and noted absently that subtly mixed with the emerald green were little rings of teal.

It was gorgeous really.

The startling green/teal standing out just like his dark blue. Both fitting his features to perfection. The scar over his left eye was thinner, shallower looking and didn't run half way down his cheek like it had before. It still trailed from just above his eye brow, and along his eye lid. But it stopped just shy of his cheek. His hair looked a little bit longer, the back of his hair falling almost to his shoulders.

He looked over his body as closely as he could, noting weird little markings and such where he found them and quickly dismissing a majority of them as something that he'd had before the deal with Kyubbi. All in all once he was done, he hadn't found all that much of himself that was different.

Sure he'd discovered the hand sized marking over his Anbu tattoo that looked suspiciously like a seal of some sort. But other than those few things, he still looked normal. Or rather as normal as he could look considering certain circumstances.

He sensed Naru's presence outside the door and said in a slightly amused tone. "Are you trying to listen to me taking a piss?"

Naru made a muffled sound on the other side of the door but didn't move away until he turned on the tap so that it would sound like he was peeing and said half jokingly, "My, my, I didn't realize what a perv I was spending time with. I'll have to keep my guard up-" He slipped one of his shoes off and used his toes to toss it at the door.

It hit with a thud and Naru made a startled sound and moved away from the door at last and he sighed in relief and turned the tap off and reached over to flush the toilet knowing that by the time he left the bathroom she'd really be thinking that she was listening to him tinkle. He collected his discarded shoe and then glanced at himself in the mirror one last time and slipped it on before stepping out.

Naru was standing all the way across the room pretending to look out the window. She turned her head to look at him over her shoulder and he gave her a narrow eyed look and said teasingly, "Pervert." Naru flushed and abruptly looked away, apprently going to pretend that she hadn't heard him as he went over to his pack and squatted down and rummaged through it to find a new mask and silently slipped it on.

"How much longer until they get here?" Naru asked after several moments of silence. Her voice softer than usual, causing Kakashi to have to strain a bit to hear it. He sighed and finished rustling through his things and stood up and walked across the room, coming up behind her, yet didn't touch her.

He saw her face reflected in the glass and frowned again. God, she still looked sick. What the hell was up with that? Did it have something to do with the Kyubbi? Or was it something else? He wondered as he hesitantly reached out and grasped one of her arms in his hand, earning a curious look from over her shoulder. "They should be here soon-" He finally said before asking. "Are you feeling okay?"

She gave him a small smile. "Tired."

_Still?_ Kakashi thought worriedly as he carefully maneuvered her away from the window and back towards the bed. "Why don't you lay down again and rest some more. I'll let you know when they get here."

"I don't really want too-"

"You said yourself that you were still tired."

"I am. Jesus, it feels so hard to stay awake. My eyes are burning like crazy and my body feels more sluggish than usual..."

"Maybe your coming down with a cold." Kakashi said in a hopeful tone as he helped Naru onto the bed and watched her with another frown as she simply collapsed onto the bed and didn't move again making the copy nin think, _Hn. Then again, maybe not._


	16. Chapter 16

The Kakashi and Naru retrieval squad stepped into the bustling little town three hours later than they were meant too due to the fact that Pakkun had kept getting distracted by squirrels and had had to be caught and physically restrained.

But after that there had been little difficulty in getting to the town several days travel from the leaf village. "Finally! We're here!" Kiba said, all traces of his earlier irritation gone.

"It's about time-" Neji mumbled under his breath. "I'm worried about Naru and Kakashi-sensei."

"We all are Neji, but I'm sure that they're fine." Sakura said in a mock cheerful tone. She hated acting like there was nothing wrong when there obviously was. Especially when all she wanted to do was curl up somewhere and cry for_ both_ of her wounded team mates.

But if she started acting different now, Neji and the others would catch on and ask questions that she didn't know how to answer.

How did one tell one's frinds that sensei raped one of their own in order to keep her from being killed?

It simply sounded wrong no matter how one phrased it. And then there was the fact that one of their own had raped their friend. This would breed malice, discontent, and distrust in Naru because every time she was sent on a mission, she would relive her attack at Kakashi's hands and she would fear the worst.

There was simply no way around this except for time. And both Naru and Kakashi would need a shit load of time to heal and maybe find a way to salvage their previous relationship. If it could be salvaged at all.

Then there was the fact that Sakura couldn't rule out that Naru or Kakashi or possibly both at the same time might go off the deep end. Naru might attack Kakashi, not understanding why he had hurt her, and try to murder him in an effort to _remove_ the reason for her wounds and her fears.

And deep down Sakura knew that Kakashi wouldn't raise a hand against Naru, feeling that he deserved whatever she did to him which in itself was a chilling thought since it meant that he just might let Naru murder him.

_Naru... Sensei... Please hold on just a little bit longer. We're almost there... _Sakura thought as her eyes started to tear up for what must have been the hundredth time in so many hours. She blinked in an effort not to let the tears slip- If she did she doubted that she'd be able to come up with a believable lie once someone noticed.

She felt a hand on her left shoulder and turned turned her head to look at the person touching her. It was Sai touching her, offering silent comfort. His expression eerily calm despite the churning rage she felt in the few chakra spikes he'd lost control of on their journey to the town. Pakkun was still slung over one of his shoulders. Still attached to the yard long stick that Sai had hog tied him too.

"Hold yourself together Sakura. I know it's hard, but we aren't sure what we will find. If you must mourn then wait until we have the situation in hand before you do so."

Sakura bit her bottom lip and bowed her head. Sai was right. She needed to hold it together right now or she would be of no use to them once they found Naru and Kakashi. "Right. Thanks Sai."

He dropped his hand from her shoulder and made a humming sound before slipping the stick from his shoulder and shaking it a little bit to get Pakkun's attention. Once he had it he growled at the pug, "Which way?"

Pakkun looked around for a second then said, "Straight. The hotel with the red roof."

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Kakashi was getting more and more worried about Naru by the second. She had been asleep for almost three hours now and was starting to run a low grade fever and was totally unresponsive when he tried to wake her.

He leaned over her and ran a gloved hand along the curve of one cheek then straightened his spine for a moment and dipped his hands into the basin of cold water that he'd gotten when he had noticed that she was starting to run a fever and then leaned over her again and ran his hands along her cheeks, her forehead, taking his time to wet his hands again and run one of his palms along her throat to wet the skin.

Naru shivered and twitched as a small frown crossed her face. He wet his hands again, making sure to soak his entire hands up to his forearms in the water before turning back to her and running an index finger along the bridge of her nose and his other along her lips.

His hands had gone numb a while ago from doing this. But he didn't seem to mind since Naru appeared to be resting a mite more comfortably now than she had been earlier. He dipped his hands in the cold water again and started running his palms along her hairline, smoothing back her bangs while cooling her down.

He was just starting to run his hand along her throat again when she made a small sound and swallowed convulsively. Kakashi froze and glanced at her face as her eyes fluttered open for the first time in so many hours and she looked at him through glazed eyes and rasped. "My throat hurts."

Kakashi blinked and straightened his spine unsure of what he should say to that aside from a lame, "I'm sorry." While he mentally chidded himself on thinking of everything for treating her fever but for forgetting that sometimes sick people woke up needing water.

Their mouth's became unbearably dry, their throats became so sore that they were pulled from their healing rest to get something to ease some of the pain.

He got up and wiped his hands on his vest, for some reason finding the wetness of his gloves uncomfortable when it hadn't bothered him a moment ago and then headed to the bathroom where he was sure he had spotted some little plastic cups sitting on the counter. He'd use one of them to get her a drink so that she could go back to sleep until her fever broke.

He found the small cups exactly where he had thought he saw them at, and filled one with some water then headed back to the bed where he found Naru already asleep again and sat down and tried to shake her awake enough to get her drink, but she was again completely unresponsive.

Which left him in a little bit of a bind since it meant that for Naru to get her drink, he'd have to give it to her mouth to mouth. _Dammit Naru. _Kakashi thought in irritation before reigning his temper in. He knew that Naru wasn't doing this on purpose but he couldn't help wanting to avoid this if he could.

He tried shaking her awake again, this time a little more roughly but she still didn't react. Finally he gave in knowing that she needed the water and knew that whether he liked this or not, he'd give it to her mouth to mouth.

He sighed and made a mental note to cut himself again after this and lifted the cup to his mouth and took a small sip and held it while he set the cup on the bedside table next to the basin and leaned over Naru, and placed one hand on her throat just in case he needed to help her swallow and then carefully used his fingers to open her mouth and pressed his lips against hers and let the water slip from his mouth to hers.

He felt her throat move as she swallowed the water and repeated the move until the small cup was empty then sat back and wiped Naru's lips with one hand and his own with the other.

He didn't want either of them to have any lingering traces of this.


	17. Chapter 17

Kakashi had just finished bandaging his wrists again after adding to the healing cuts there, and was cleaning up the blood in the sink when he felt the familiar flair of Tenzou's chakra from somewhere in the hotel.

His hands stilled and his head snapped up and he let his chakra flair a little bit in response to the other man's silent query to let him know that he and Naru were still alive and kicking-er well, so to speak.

He started to clean up the blood again when he felt another chakra flair from his former Anbu brother and paused again. This time the query clearly asking, _Is Naru alright?_ Kakashi made an irritated sound in the back of his throat and made a mental note to punch Tenzou in the nuts for asking such a stupid question.

And quickly finished cleaning up the sink and disposed of the rags he'd used to clean the blood up as he tracked Tenzou's chakra signature while he tried to think. He needed to cover up his eye and meet Tenzou and the others so that he could warn them that Naru's memory was messed up so that he could be sure that no one accidentally triggered her memories.

He stepped out fo the bathroom and pulled his shirt sleeves down over the bandages and checked on Naru then pulled his mask up over his nose and mouth again and grabbed his headband and put it on, then tugged it down over his left eye to hide the discoloration and walked towards the door sensing that Tenzou was just a hundred or so feet away from the room.

(******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

Tenzou sighed, Kakashi-senpai's silence about Naru's current condition was telling. Things must be horrible for her. Things must be horrible for Kakashi too. Tenzou couldn't imagine how it must feel to be in Kakashi's shoes right now.

To know that Naru was probably crying, mourning. To know that every time Kakashi tried to reach out to comfort her she probably shrank back from him in fear and disgust. To know that she was hurting so badly and was in desperate need of the Kakashi she once knew, yet couldn't seem to find in the person sitting across the room from her.

And Kakashi himself- Tenzou could only imagine how much it hurt him to know that his former student and friend was right there, that she needed him, but he couldn't touch her. Not even to try and comfort her.

It was simply too dangerous. In her fragile state he could easily break her into slivers that would never heal or mend back together again.

_Horrible- _Tenzou thought as he clenched his fists at his side as he and the rest of the group rounded the corner and stopped for a second when he saw Kakashi leaning his back against the wall just up ahead, his one eye staring blankly at his feet which were crossed at the ankle, his arms were crossed over his chest which was void of his usual vest.

God in heaven the man looked like hell! His silver hair was longer than Tenzou remembered it ever being, falling just past his shoulder blades. His face under his mask was probably a little bit haggard looking. He had a dark smudge under his visible eye, indicating his lack of rest.

Kakashi looked up at him for a second, doing a mental check of whom exactly had been sent and Tenzou thought he saw a slight relieved look cross the copy nin's face as he noted Shizune, Sakura, Ino and Hinata.

Kakashi dropped his gaze after that and didn't look up again. Not even when Sakura and Sai pushed past Tenzou and ran up to him and took turns hugging the man to show their understanding of the situation.

Kakashi looked just as startled as he was shocked by the display, his body language showing what the copy nin himself would never say. He felt that he should be _condemned_ for doing what he had thought would save Naru's life. Kakashi seemed to have forgotten that former team seven, Tenzou and many others were very understanding people.

The only reason Kakashi wasn't condemned for what he had done was because he hadn't wanted to do it. If he had done it out of pure meanness, that would be an entirely different matter.

Kakashi would be facing down an execution upon his arrival back at the village. But because Kakashi had been trying to preserve Naru's life, even at the cost of his honor, people wouldn't see him as a rapist or a monster. They would merely see him as a man that had had to make an agonizing decision.

But they would never understand how agonizing that decision was for him. Or what it had cost him.

Tenzou walked up as Sakura was drawing back from the copy nin and stopped an inch or so away from him and then reached out and hooked his pinky finger around one of Kakashi's knowing more than anyone how the man probably felt about physical contact right now. Kakashi looked at him for a second then sighed and moved a little closer to his former brother and dropped his head onto Tenzou's right shoulder and just stood there.

Both touching yet at the same time not touching. Tenzou trying to comfort the older man and Kakashi trying to draw strength from the younger man before he finally lifted his head and moved away. "How's Naru?" Tenzou asked softly. Kakashi looked at him and slowly shook his head.

"Not good. There's something wrong with her memory." Kakashi said in a rough tone. "She's acting like she did before I-" He stopped speaking and looked over his shoulder at the door behind him. "Her chakra is out of whack and she's been sleeping a lot in an effort to heal herself. And a few hours ago she started running a fever. It's pretty low grade at the moment but I suspect that may change if she isn't looked at soon."

Tenzou, Sakura and Sai all frowned as the others finally joined them and Kakashi saw Pakkun hanging from the stick slung over Sai's shoulder and pointed and asked, "Sai, what the hell did you do to my pup?"


	18. Chapter 18

Sakura opened the door to Kakashi and Naru's room and peeked in nervously, uncertain of what she might see or find and jumped when she felt Kakashi come up behind her and jumped when his hand appeared against the door.

Pushing it open a little bit wider so that he could step inside of the room, and headed straight for the bed where Naru lay sleeping curled up on her side, facing away from the door. He pushed it open a little bit more and silently slipped inside.

Leaving Sakura standing there while he walked over to the bed and hovered for a second, his expression worried before he reached down and carefully wrapped the covers more tightly around Naru and then leaned down and scooped the girl up in his arms.

He made sure to keep his expression blank, even when his wrists gave a painful twinge and started bleeding again. He tightened his grasp on Naru a little bit and shifted her a little to make her more comfortable then turned and headed for the door. Eager to get out of this damndable hotel and it's room and to forget as much as his worried mind would allow.

Not caring that he was leaving Naru's pack, nor his own behind in the room.

Kakashi didn't let anyone near Naru or even see her until they were back outside of the town and in the woods again where he found a nice large moss covered tree and gracefully dropped himself down to the ground under it and settled Naru in his lap and pulled the covers back away from her face so that he found put a gloved hand against her cheek.

She felt a mite warmer than she had a while ago but he shrugged it off thinking that it was just because she had had her face covered a little bit. It was at that time that someone bothered to ask, "What's wrong with Naru?" Earning a murderous look from the copy nin, Sai, Tenzou and Sakura before someone elbowed that particular person in the ribs and hissed.

"_Dude shut up_." As Shizune and Sakura and Ino made their way over to Kakashi and sort fo crowded around him a little bit as one of them asked softly.

"Kakashi, we need to examin you and Naru. Are you going to let us?" Kakashi looked from one med nin to another and shook his head no.

"You can examin Naru-" But examining him right now was off limits. Besides, he was conscious and was..._semi_ functioning so he didn't need to be looked over. "She's the one who needs to be looked over. Not me." Kakashi said as he pulled the covers back a little bit more, causing Naru to whimper and press her shivering body as close to his own as their clothes and the blanket would allow.

Making him visibly stiffen for a moment before he reached out and grabbed Sakura's wrist and ppulled until her arm was extended and her hand was resting over Naru's back and held it there.

Getting the message loud and clear Sakura, Ino, and Shizune started to examin Naru. But the moment Shizune mentioned Kakashi putting Naru down so that they could strip her and do a vaginal exam Kakashi cut them off at the knees, snarling that that was the last thing Naru needed and they weren't doing it.

To him having them give Naru a vaginal exam was too _invasive_ and _humiliating. _He worried that it might trigger something in Naru's subcounscious mind and cause more harm but when they explained that they would make it quick, they just needed to know how badly she'd been hurt down there.

Shizune and Sakura didn't say anothing about the fact that Kakashi may not have been the only person to hurt Naru. After all there could have been damage done to her before he'd been forced to- They stopped thinking altogether and after having Sai and Tenzou fix a little hut so that no one would see what they were doing they laid out the medical supplies that they had brought with them and lifted up Naru's skirt and began after taking a moment to steel themselves against what they may learn.

Outside Kakashi was barely holding it together. Something about the way the women had been so addamant to examin Naru had gotten the wheels in his head turning at a frightening pace. Tenzou, and Shikamaru had had to physically restrain him, and strip him of his weapons at one point when he had started to freak out. Fearing that he might try to hurt himself or them.

It hadn't occurred to Kakashi until now that Naru may have already been raped by more than one person while she'd been held and tortured but now that he knew it was possible even in the smallest of ways he couldn't help panicking-fearing-mourning.

Why? Why hadn't he thought of that before? Was it because she had been dressed in her clothes, however torn and blood splattered. Was it because she had appeared to be in one piece?

He doubled over in Tenzou's grasp started throwing up. Accidentally nailing one of Tenzou's feet. The man grimanced but said nothing as Kakashi muttered a weak sounding, "Sorry." between heaves knowing that Kakashi couldn't help it.

A few minutes later Shizune and Ino came out of the hut and Kakashi got this wild look in his blue eye and backed as far away from the woman as he could as she made a beeline for him, no doubt to tell him what she and the other had found.

But once his back hit a tree, both Tenzou and Shikamaru watched wide eyed as the copy nin scrambled up the trunk and disappeared into the branchs and just sat there.

Part of him feeling that he didn't need to hear anything while another part of him- the _darker_ part of him wanted to know if he'd actually been the only one to harm Naru. And if not...then who did he have to kill?


	19. Chapter 19

Shikamaru was the one who asked Shizune in an impatient/pissed tone that was rare in the lazy shadow jutsu user, "Well what did you find?" Up in the branches Kakashi curled his legs up against his chest and cringed while his mind growled, _Bastard. I don't think they heard you in Iwa._

He turned his head and looked towards the small group huddled fifty feet or so away and noted that Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Neji and Lee were all looking towards Shikamaru with frowns on their faces as Sai walked up and tried to distract them with several lewd, and not very well executed jokes. As Shizune moved in closer to Shikamaru and told him what she and Sakura and Ino had found.

"We found faint traces of healed up broken bones. Some partially healed internal injuries. A partially healed bruise on the back of her head. We think at one time it was bad enough to cause her skull to fracture a bit and cause brain swelling-"

"Kakashi said that her memory was off, would something like that do it?" Tenzou asked. Shizune shook her head.

"Maybe at first. Because brain injuries are tricky but not now. Her memory issues probably stem from something deeper."

"Alright, continue-" Shika said as Shizune listed several other things that they had found that was consistant with torture. It seemed like she was trying to avoid what she and the others had found during the vaginal exam.

She stopped speaking for a moment and took a deep breath then finally said. "We found only a little tearing in Naru's soft tissues and because rape is such a violent act, we feel that it's safe to assume that if anyone did touch her- they didn't touch her there. They probably used uh...her other- Althought we didn't find any scarring, we can't completely rule that out..."

"Thats enough Shizune-" Tenzou snapped the look on his face pained.

Shizune shut up and nodded her head and started to walk away then stopped and said, "Kakashi I know that you're listening so let me make this very clear. Whoever forced you to hurt Naru- they probably had such a thing planned for a while during her captivity. Now you need to pull yourself together and ask yourself _why_. Why you when they could have had her themselves."

Kakashi blinked at her words as seething rage churrned in his gut. Why? She had said. He knew the why of what had happened. It had been to destroy two of the leaf village's most fierce and powerful shinobi. He's have to be a moron not to know that.

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"Does anyone else find this mission peculair?" Neji asked as Sai all but ran to Sakura once she walked out of the hut looking sad and wiping at her eyes with her hands. Kiba, Shino and Lee all leaned forward a bit on their seats and saw the young Root hug Sakura.

"You mean aside from the fact that everyone is acting sort of crazy? No. Not peculiar." Kiba said as he looked away from Sai and Sakura hugging as Lee said.

"I think Neji-kun is right. Something peculair _is_ going on and we're being left out of it."

"What do you think it is?" Hinata asked quietly, suddenly deciding to join in the conversation.

"Whatever it is it has to do with Naru and Kakashi." Neji said as he settled back to observe the others in the hopes that he'd be able to piece things together and help if he could.

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It took about an hour of coaxing before Kakashi finally came out of the tree. And the only reason he bothered to come down was because Shikamaru had sighed and said he was going to go collect Naru.

A split second later Kakashi dropped down out of the tree, landing on top of him and knocked him to the ground where he wound up eating dirt while the copy nin jumped to his feet and ran into the hut and carefully re wrapped Naru in the blanket that he'd more or less stolen from the hotel they'd left, and scooped her up.

He stared at her sleeping face for a moment and felt the need to cry again, but ruthlessly shoved the need aside. Telling himself firmly not to torture himself with the 'what if's' that he'd recently become aware of.

He'd only drive himself crazy if he did that. And then he wouldn't be of any use to anyone; least of all Naru who was_ defensless_ and in desperate need of him to protect her now. He got to his feet slowly, not wanting to jostle Naru too much because it would wake her and stepped out of the hut to find that everyone else was ready to go and was waiting on him to give the word.

He glanced from one face to another and took a deep breath. Going home would end this chapter of his and Naru's story. But it was the rest of the story that he dreaded. Still...

He did miss the village and it's people. Missed the warmth and comfort and safety it provided.

He and Naru would heal much faster once they were there. Wouldn't they? He wasn't totally sure of anything anymore. But he did know one thing. He didn't want to be here where he had been forced to ride out the aftermath.

He longed for the familiar sights and sounds of home. "Alright... Let's go home..."


	20. Chapter 20

A week after their return to the village, Naru was discharged from the hospital despite Sakura's and Tsunade's protests about her health. Which was _fine_ if anyone bothered to ask. However there were certain things about her health that Tsunade and Sakura and Shizune were worried about.

For starters, when Naru had been raped she'd been ovulating and Kakashi hadn't been allowed to pull out. And since so much time had passed (far too much time for an morning after pill to take effect) they worried that she may end up pregnant. Which was also something that Kakashi himself was worried about since that was just bound to raise some questions from the girl.

However they decided to cross that bridge once they got there and merely perscribed some vitamines and suppliments to help keep Naru healthy just in case.

They also hadn't figured out _what_ was going on with Naru's memories. Though they had narrowed the cause for her memory loss down to two things, self preservation instinct must in some way be suppressing the trauma and then the second, _Kyubbi_.

Kyubbi seemed much more likely since Kakashi had told Tsunade that he had spoken to the demon at one point (he didn't say why, he wasn't stupid enough to break his contract and run the risk of hurting Naru again) and had told her that the demon had referred to Naru as it's 'kit' which meant that the demon held a certain amount of affection for the girl.

There were other things- like Naru's chakra being out of whack even in the smallest sense. It just wasn't normal for that to happen, but again they figured that it had to do with the Kyubbi and left it at that knowing that her chakra would straighten itself out on it's own in a few days or so.

Then there was the fever she'd been running and the fact that by the time they had reached the village Naru's small fever had _morphed_ into a raging one as high as one hundred and four degrees. Which had alarmed everyone so much that the entire Kakashi/Naru retreaval squad had spent three days in the hospital waiting for Naru's fever to break before they had finally gone home to rest.

Leaving the copy nin behind to sit at Naru's bedside until she was well enough to go home, after which he'd slipped out of her room window and disappeared without a trace.

No doubt to go and get some rest.

Or at least Tsunade hoped that he had gone home to get some rest. She may have to send an Anbu to track him down and check on him in a little bit, but right now she needed to talk to Naru and determin if she should be alone or not.

She walked into Naru's room half expecting the girl to be curled up crying. She wasn't exactly sure why she had expected this when she knew that Naru didn't recall what had happened, but some part of her had expected it. So when she walked into the room to find her gaki laying back against the pillows she'd been given, looking exhausted- well, Tsunade didn't know what to think.

"Naru, gaki, are you okay?" Tsunade asked in a concerned tone as Naru opened her eyes and looked at her.

"I'm fine baa-chan. Just-"

"Just what?" Tsunade asked curiously.

"I was just wondering why everyone has been acting so strangely around me recently. And I was sort of giving myself a headache thinking about the reasons because nothing that I've come up with so far makes sense to me. I mean, Kakashi-sensei said that we weren't on a mission. So why were a bunch of medical nins and guards sent to pick us up?"

_Uh-oh-_ Tsunade thought while keeping her expression carefully blank. Of course Naru would have noticed that. It was a little hard to miss the number of people that had picked her and Kakashi up and escourted them back to the village. So it was natrual that Naru would wonder about it. Still, that didn't mean that Tsunade was going to tell her the real reaosn why. Not when Naru was in a fragile place and didn't need to know the truth.

"Uh well, everyone but you and Kakashi had been on a mission and met up somewhere between here and where you were and when you started to run a fever, Kakashi sent for help and everyone decided to pitch in and so they came and got you." Tsunade lied.

Naru gave her a calculating look for a moment, wondering why Tsunade felt the need to lie to her before pushing the thought away knowing that if Tsunade was going to go to the trouble of lying to her then she probably didn't want to know what was really going on. But it didn't stop her from feeling curious just the same.

"Ah. Well that makes sense." _If your strung out on drugs, that is. _Naru thought as Tsunade got her something for her headache and then got her a drink of water and handed them to her. Naru took the pills without question, feeling a mite grateful that her baa-chan had realized just how badly her head was starting to hurt as she downed the water and set the cup aside.

"Thanks Tsunade." She said, using just the woman's name for the first time since the day they had met. Surprising the Kage a little bit.

"No problem gaki. Now before I let you go, tell me if you want to be alone or not-"

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Kakashi stepped into Naru's apartment with a feeling of apprehention and dropped the duffle bags that he'd brought with him, containing his clothing, a pair or so of shoes, some civilian clothing, his brush, toothbrush and a few things that he hadn't wanted to leave behind at his place.

He looked around and took a deep shuddering breath, trying to squash the nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach. This was his home now. His and Naru's. From now until the day they both died, just as he'd promised Kyubbi-

They would never be apart.


	21. Chapter 21

Yay! This story is finally under way! And it's about time too I feel like I've been going out of my mind with the stuff happening this past few days.

On thanksgiving day we had a death in the family- It wasn't my grandma, but this still leads me to believe that she'll out live us all- Anyways it was my first cousin's Nana, she was in her eighties and she had cancer. I don't recall ever meeting her but my mom and dad were pretty upset about it so she much have been one of the good ones.

Then another cousin; my no good _bastard_ cousin Kevin (the liar, theif, druggy- the same man that we worried would pimp out his daughter Amy when she was just an infant) wound up in the hosptial from liver and kidney failure and he was calling everyone asking if they would donate organs.

Frankly I hope he kicks it- he's never done a damn thing for anyone in his life aside from fuck people over.

And then my aunt from my dads side came down and started asking about some of the antique jewelry that my grandmother gave to me years before she died. Now kittens let me elaberate on why this is upsetting to me-

The pieces she's been asking about are worth between 45,000- to a hundred thousand dollars each. They are unique one of a kind pieces that my grandfather spent _millions_ on to get for my grandmother in their earlier days.

And my aut has an outstanding rep for selling these things once she gets them. Which was why they were left to me. My mammaw Kay didn't trust my aunt or her kids because they aren't any good.

Now I know that mammaw Kay was her mother and all, but she isn't getting those pieces because she'll sell them, ruin them, let others take them from her.

Those pieces will _stay_ in the _family_. If anything happens to me- they go straight to my dad and mom and brother and they _know_ not to give her anything, so she's shit out of luck beacuse I will protect those pieces with lethal force if I need too.

Ah...it feels so good to rant... Anywho here is the next chapter of Broken Dolls. Enjoy!

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Kakashi stepped into Naru's apartment with a feeling of apprehention and dropped the duffle bags that he'd brought with him, containing his clothing, a pair or so of shoes, some civilian clothing, his brush, toothbrush and a few things that he hadn't wanted to leave behind at his place.

He looked around and took a deep shuddering breath, trying to squash the nervous feeling in the pit of his stomach. This was his home now. His and Naru's. From now until the day they both died, just as he'd promised Kyubbi-

They would never be apart.

He did a quick sweep of the living room, noting the furniture was outdated, torn, the upholstery faded, some pieces like the couch had little specks of blood on them. _Note to self- Buy Naru some more furnature. _Kakashi thought as he did a slow walk around the room. Musing that it was ironic, he'd been in the place a million times yet he'd never noticed the faded threadbare carpet on the floor, the tattered mismatching curtains hanging above the broken window, the peeling pale yellow wall paper-

God how could he have never noticed before the sort of squalor that Naru had grown up in? Had he always been so blind to her suffering before this? He knew the answer before he had the chance to really think about it and hung his head in shame.

Jesus, what the fuck was wrong with him? Why had he never said or did anything about the way she lived? _Because way back then you didn't really care. She was a link to the past that you mourned and wanted desperately to forget. _It was true he supposed. Back then when she had been young, he hadn't cared like he'd been meant too. He'd tried to avoid her. Avoid looking at her, hearing her-

Her very presence had both lit up his dimly lit world and made him dislike her all the more.

He raised his head a little bit and started moving around the living room again wondering if he'd maybe hated her a little bit back then.

**_No. You never hated her-_ **A foreign voice said from somewhere deep in his mind before continuing. **_You were one of the precious few incapable of hating her. A small comfort, I know. But that at least is the truth in your heart. _**Kakashi went completely still and tilted his head to the side. That wasn't one of his usual inner voices talking to him just now.

There was something akin to a rumbling laugh, though he got the impression it was very soft. **_Do you know who I am_ pup?**

Kakashi thought for a moment before answering, _My sanity fleeing my mind._ He sounded almost hopeful, even to himself. How messed up was that? There was another rumbling laugh and Kakashi could swear that for a split second he saw a pair of mismatched eyes in a largely massive glowing whitish blue canine like face, hovering right in front of him.

But he blinked and the next instant it was gone and he was once alone in Naru's apartment. _Hn. That was weird. _Kakashi thought, half expecting the voice to say something else. And merely shrugged it off as a halucination or something from the lack of rest in recent days when nothing happened.

He continued his walk through Naru's home- now his own home, making a list of the various things that would need to be done to improve it before making his way back to the living room and into the small kitchen attached to the room and checked it to see what Naru had.

The fridge was empty aside from a small opened can of tuna. There was no drinks, no eggs, no vegetables or fruits. It was as if a ghost was living here or something. _Right, food- She'll need food to get completely better._ Kakashi thought as he drummed his fingers on the open fridge door before slamming it closed and heading towards the door intending to get some groceries and check out some furniture at the nearest store to see if he could take care of some of the smaller things before Naru came home.

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Naru walked out of the hospital with a sense of relief, happy to finally be out of such an annoying and fussy place when she suddenly found herself surrounded by the guys of the rookie nine. She squeaked, startled by their sudden appearance as they all looked her over before Neji asked in a concerned tone. "Naru, how are you feeling?" As Shino took the small overnight bag that held her dirty clothes in it from her limp fingers.

"I, uh.. W-What are you- Why are you-" Naru seemed to stumble over her own words, wanting to ask the guys what they were doing waiting on her but was cut off by Kiba who politely said.

"Please just answer the question Naru."

Naru blinked at him and abruptly snapped her mouth shut for a moment before saying. "I'm fine."

"Are you? Are you really?" Neji asked curiously as he tilted his head and studied her for a moment. She frowned at him not understanding what he meant when Lee asked.

"How is your memory? Have you gotten it back yet?"

Naru looked right at him with a puzzled frown on her face and wondered, _My memory? What the hell is wrong with my memory? _"What are you talking about Lee? My meomory is fine." The group exchanged a look then glanced back at Naru.

The puzzle from before rising up in their minds. There was something going on and it looked like Naru was being kept out of the loop just as much as they were if she didn't even relaize that Tsunade herself had diagnosed her with amnesia just a few days ago when she had still been burning up with fever.

Kiba was about to point out something to Naru when Neji and Shino both elbowed him in the ribs to shut him up and smiled at their confused friend. "Sorry. Our mistake Naru. Perhaps we were thinking of something else-" Shino said as Neji reached out and wrapped an arm around her slender shoulders and said.

"Let us visit for a while, while we walk you home." Naru nodded her head and felt a sudden sliver of fear. What the hell was going on with everyone? And why was she being left in the dark?

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Kakashi had finished the grocery shopping a little while ago and was currently in the nearest furniture store close to Naru's place trying out a couch. He'd already found a new carpet for her aprtment, a new dining room set of white oak chairs and a small table, some new coffee tables a book shelf _three_ potential new beds- one for him and one for her.

A small chair to go in the corner of the living room with one of the shelves he'd found and the couch he was trying out- Oh god the couch was as comfortable as a cloud.

He flopped over onto his side to test it a little more and sighed in pleasure and felt himself starting to doze off. Oh this was good. This was very good. He couldn't recall a time he'd ever sat or laid on something so soft and comfortable.

He heard someone walking by and absently dug out a small piece of paper with Naru's address on it and some of the cash he'd withdrawn from his life savings and held his arm up and said tiredly, "I'll take it. Deliver it to the place on the piece of paper."

He kept his arm up until he felt the money and papaer being taken from him before letting it fall and sighed contentedly a second before he started snoring.


	22. Chapter 22

Naru waved goodbye to the others, thanking them for walking her home all the while mentally grumbling about them also raising her suspiscions as she unlocked the front doorp to her apartment and stepped inside and was about to drop her over night bag when she noticed that...well, things looked different.

Odd. Abnormal. _Out of place_.

For starters her old couch was missing, along with her old dining room set, coffee tables- There was a medium sized book shelf against the wall next to the window with a soft tan cushioned chair. Even the curtains were different. They matched!

She took a step or two inside the door and noted that her living room carpet was missing- replaced with a cream colored one with emerald and mint green leaved vines twining their way all the way around the edges.

She turned and walked back out of her apartment, intent on seeing if maybe she'd mistakenly walked into someone else's home and saw the same buildings and street signs she'd seen everyday since she was three. So no, she hadn't accidentally walked into someone else's house.

What the hell was going on here? She wondered as she turned around again and went ahead and dropped her overnight bag just inside the door and quietly pushed the apartment door closed and locked it. Vaguely wondering if someone had done this to make her more comfortable.

She pushed that thought away after a moment or so, mentally chidding that it was far more possible that there were rogue interior decorators running amock in the village, randomly re decorating people's homes for no reason. She rubbed the back of her neck uncomfortably as it occurred to her that if that really was the case she'd need to warn Tsunade about it or something.

She was about to go see if her bedroom was still intact when Kakashi came walking into the living room, scaring the hell out of her. She screamed and scrambled for the door- once again thinking that maybe she'd stepped into the wrong home when Kakashi asked in a dry tone, "Naru what the hell is your problem?"

She froze where she was and slowly turned her head to look at him and squeaked, "Sensei?" What the devil was he doing here? She wondered as he put his hands on his hips and pointed to her and said in his most authoritive tone.

"You. Sit. _Now_."

"I-I-I'd r-rea-lly r-rather n-n-not." She stammered out and instantly found herself going to do as she'd been told when he gave her his signature _don't-fuck-with-me _look and sat down on the couch and waited to see what he was going to say to her now that she felt a lecture coming on.

Instead of a lecture all her former sensei all he said was, "You just got out of the hospital. You need more rest to get well not to go around screaming at random."

Naru blinked at him as he walked by her and into the kitchen before calling out, "Do you want some soup or juice? I went to the store earlier so that you'd have food and such-" Naru sat there in stunned silence listening to him speak and was startled when he suddenly appeared in front of her with a small glass of apple juice in one hand and a small bowl of what looked like tomato soup in the other.

He handed her the juice and set the bowl down on the brand spankin new coffee table next to the couch and then dropped down to one knee in front of her and looked at her, a frown marring his maskless features. "Naru? Nar-u? Are you listening to a single word I've said?" He asked as he waved a gloved hand in front of her face, trying to get a reaction out of her.

He'd known that coming home to the new furniture, food, and her former sensei would be a mite...well, _strange_. Perhaps even upsetting if one examined things from her end. But he hadn't expected her to get jumpy around him and then completely zone out.

He waved his hand in front of her face again, a worried frown crossing his face when she finally blinked and looked at him with a puzzled look on her face. "Sensei, where is all of my stuff?"

_Ah, now she's back_. Kakashi thought in relief as he said, "Those things were old and falling apart. I wanted you to be more comfortable when you got home so I got you some new stuff."

"B-But why would you-"

"I told you Naru." Kakashi said in a soft reproachful tone that Naru could recall hearing all of her genin days. She knew that he didn't mean anything by it but for some reason that tone made her want to cry.

And she might've started crying if he hadn't have framed her face with his hands and said gently. "Forgive me Naru. But I've been worried out of my mind over you and your health for the past week. And I'm trying to speak to you and your not listening. It's frustrating." He ran his thumbs along the skin under her eyes, wiping away some of the moisture that had escaped and he sighed, sounding more tired than she'd ever heard him sound before as he dropped his hands away from her face and slowly stood up.

"Drink your juice and eat some of your soup then take a nice long nap and you'll feel much better. Okay?" Naru nodded her head mutely, unsure of what to say and did as Kakashi asked and drank the juice and ate the soup and once she was done he sat down on the couch next to her and slipped an arm around her slender shoulders and forced her to lay down so that her head was resting on the cushion just shy of touching his leg.

She lay there for a moment or so wondering why her sensei was doing this when she decided to ask. "Kakashi, why are you here?" _Forcing food and drinks and new furniture on me._

Kakashi looked down at her for a second and slipped his fingers into her hair and combed it back from her face. "I'm here to take care of you Naru." He said simply as if his explination was the most logical one in the world. Naru might have asked him more but like he'd been earlier, she got caught up in her new couches charm and wound up dozing off.

The second he was sure she was out, he sighed softly and let his head fall back against the back of the chair and tried to slow his heart back to a normal speed since it had been trying so hard to punch it's way through his chest ever since Naru had walked in the door.

Well that was one hurtle down for the time being. He mused tirely.

But Naru would ask more questions later. As the night wore on and he showed no signs of leaving. He lifted his head and looked down at her, noting that she still looked a bit pale from being sick and felt a pang of guilt and couldn't stop from wondering if the fever she'd developed had somehow been linked to what he'd done to her.

If so then he had a hell of a lot more to answer for than he'd originally thought. He scooted down a little bit on his side of the chair and made himself comfortable so that he could take a nap too.

He wanted to be wide awake when Naru flipped out on him later.


	23. Chapter 23

Kakashi woke with a start, his hand going for his weapon's pouch before he was wide enough awake to realize that he'd almost just attacked Naru who was leaning over him a little bit, lightly shaking his shoulder. He blinked several times and groaned, "What the fuck Naru?"

She drew back away from him a little bit and he realized that the room was pitch black, the earlier sun light filtering through the broken window across the window was no longer there. Jesus, just how long had he slept?

"You okay sensei?" Naru asked in a concerned tone as he reached out and switched on the small lamp next to his end of the couch and then blinked again as his eyes adjusted to the faint light it provided.

"I'm fine... What time is it?" He gritted out as he rubbed his eyes with his hands, trying to wake himself up.

"It's close to eight." Naru said, that concerned look still on her face.

"At night?"

"Yeah."

"Fuck. I meant to make you dinner and stuff at six-" He said tiredly as he dropped his hands away from his eyes and sighed before looking at Naru and demanding. "What are you doing on your feet?" She gave him a peculiar look but said nothing as she turned and was about to walk away when he reached out and caught her around the waist and dragged her back so that she wound up in his lap before saying softly against her cheek.

"You're supposed to be resting."

Naru shivered and flushed at the almost feel of his lips against her cheek and managed to say in a calm and even tone. "I napped. I'm rested."

"Don't get smart with me Naru-" Kakashi growled softly, ignoring the shiver that ran down her spine as his arms tightened around her middle causing her to squirm a little bit in discomfort before he loosened his hold and rested his chin on her shoulder for a moment before saying, "Getting smart with me doesn't do anything but piss me off. Besides, I want you to rest a little more."

"But I'm not tired."

"I don't care-" Kakashi said roughly as he lifted her up and set her down on the couch next to him so that he could stand up before continuing. "You're going to rest for the next three days and if I catch you doing _anything_ that I think could cause you to relapse into fever exct. Then so help me god, I'll tie you to your bed and leave you there. Do I make myself clear?"

Naru blinked at him in the dim light and slowly nodded her head as he stretched and popped his back before heading into the kitchen to make them a late dinner. He was about midway through defrosting the chicken he'd decided to cook when Naru finally asked. "I know that you said that you were here to take care of me earlier, sensei. But isn't staying so late and threatening to tie me to my bed a little bit excessive? Ya know, sort of like buying me new furniture and groceries and such?"

_Ah, finally she asks._ Kakashi thought absently as he pulled a large steel knife from one of her kitchen drawers and tested the blade with his thumb and grunted. God did Naru even have the barest of necessities in this place? The knife in his hand was about as sharp as his fingernails. _Useless... this won't cut anything._

He set the blade aside and made a mental note to sharpen everything he could find later on and pulled a kunai from his weapon's pouch and decided to just use it since it was sharp enough to serve his purpose.

Naru shifted on the couch and started to get up, drawing his attention away from his task and back to Naru. And bit out the words, "Don't try me Naru." She flopped back against the couch and glared at him.

"Then you should answer someone when they ask you something." She snapped sulkily.

"I've already forgotten your question." Kakashi lied, wanting to avoid a fight with her if he could as he pulled the chicken out of the sink and pulled the plug to drain the water and set the defrosted chicken on the counter and then turned and reached behind him where the stove was and turned one of the eyes on while he fixed the pan he'd be using to cook the chicken in.

"Don't lie sensei. I know you well enough by now to know that you never forget anything."

"Then what if I told you I simply didn't feel like answering you?" Kakashi asked as he used his thumb to tear open the pack of chicken and then grabbed a cutting board and dumped the raw meat out on it.

Naru's lips quirked a little bit as if she found something he'd just said funny. "Humor me." Kakashi sighed and let his head drop back on his neck. Christ this girl was going to drive him utterly mad with her questions. He'd have to limit them to like three every few hours if he wanted to stay sane.

"Alright. Alright. If it will keep you from asking anything else, then yes it is a little bit excessive. But as I said before I wanted you to be comfortable. And I was worried that you might not get much rest on your old stuff."

"So you over stepped your bounds and decided to get me some new stuff." Kakashi cringed a little bit at her words and almost cut his thumb. It hadn't really occurred to him at the time that he might be overstepping his bounds when he'd bought the new furniture for Naru's apartment earlier. He'd been a mite more concerned about what she would need than gaining her approval.

So natrually being told that he'd over stepped his bounds, stung him a little bit.

He set the kunai down and wiped his hands on a dish towel lying on the counter next to the sink and walked over to the couch and knelt down and said soberly, "I'm sorry if you don't like the new stuff Naru. But as I said before, I'm here to take care of you. The new stuff was merely a small part of the package. I'm afraid that you'll have to just deal with it and I'll be sure to ask your permission next time."

Naru didn't say anything despite the fact that she sort of wanted too. Kakashi sounded so mad and tired and hurt all at once that she simply didn't know what to say to him. So she just nodded her head and watched him slowly get up and walk away.


	24. Chapter 24

Dinner with Kakashi was surprisingly pleasant given his earlier PO'd attitude.

The food was fantastic, though she wasn't allowed to get up and get her own plate. Which meant that she had to wait on Kakashi to fix her plate and bring it to her along with a drink before she settled down and started eating while the copy nin fixed his own plate then walked into the living room and sat down beside her and set his plate down in his lap and started eating.

"This is really good."

Kakashi made a soft humming sound. "You sound surprised."

"I am." Naru admitted, but didn't say anything more. Figuring that it would save her a mean look from the jounin if she simply held her tongue about what she had initally thought of him and his cooking. Kakashi though, seemed to already know what she didn't want to say and laughed a little bit.

"You thought I couldn't cook." Naru had the good grace to look guilty about that, making Kakashi laugh all that much harder. "You thought that just because I live alone that I wouldn't know how to cook! How did you think I manage to live all these years?"

Naru looked slightly uncomfortable and Kakashi stopped laughing and quickly sobered up and said. "Oh that's just wrong."

"No it's not."

"Yes it is. I may be a lot of things Naru, but I'm not a beggar. I'd rather _die_ than beg anyone for food or whatever."

She put her hands up in a placating gesture as he got quiet and said. "Part of me knows that. But I couldn't help the thought." He grunted and sat back and draped one arm across the back of the couch, putting his arm soemwhere behind her.

"Well... I suppose just the thought is okay." Kakashi said as he took another bite or two off of his plate before asking. "How have _you_ managed to survive all this time? Everytime I come to your place your cabinets and fridge are as barren as a wasteland."

"I don't keep food here-" Naru said as she set her fork down on her plate. "In fact I don't eat but three times a week." Kakashi frowned and listened as she told him about how sometimes people came to her apartment and poisoned the food and other things. How some people used to hold her down and force maggoty meat down her throat simply for the sake of laughing while she got sick.

Frankly Kakashi was appalled by this latest discovery about his former students life. She had always seemed to innocent and care free as a child that one would assume that the bile and venom of the villagers had never reached her. It saddened him to know that she had suffered like that and to know that because of those incidents she refused to keep food on hand in her apartment and limited herself to eating only three times a week.

_It's no wonder she eats so much when she was at Ichiraku's. She must be starving by the time she's taken there every few days_. Kakashi thought almost darkly as he shifted the hand behind her and gently slipped his fingers into her hair and did this odd little petting motion before removing his hand and telling her to eat.

Once Naru's plate was semi cleared and she couldn't eat anymore, Kakashi took it from her and placed what was left in the fridge just in case she got hungry again later.

He doubted she would. But he put the food back for her anyways. Then he did the dishes and then told Naru in a gentle yet firm tone to go get ready for bed since she was looking like she was about to pass out on the couch. He sat there in silence and thought while he listened to the faint sounds of Naru moving around in the back of the apartment.

He heard the soft sounds of water coming from the bathroom and felt his lips curve a little bit. So Naru was the type of girl who showered even when she was sick. Odd. But he'd seen odder things in his time.

Ten minutes later he heard the distinct sound of the water shutting off and five minutes later Naru came shuffling back into the living room wearing a large, button up long sleeved shirt that fell down to her knees, the towel that she'd used to dry off with, slung across her shoulders. She shuffled over to the couch and flopped down on it and curled herself up into a ball, uncaring fo if whether her head was resting almost dangerously close to his lap, and her hair was still wet, and the hem of her shirt was riding up a little bit.

Honestly she appeared far too tired to care. _I guess the shower took what was left of her energy, the poor thing. _Kakashi thought as he absently started finger combing her hair to work out the tangles while she fell asleep curled up next to him.

An hour later when he was ready to get some sleep himself, he scooped her up and carried her down the hall to her room and tucked her in.


	25. Chapter 25

In the following weeks Kakashi started to behave a little more like his usual self, almost putting the entire incident with Naru from his mind. _Almost_ being the operative word. He didn't bother denying that the incident had happened. Nor did he bother denying that he was _different_ now.

The fact that he'd yet to figure out what had happened to his Sharingan, but was still able to copy jutsu's flawlessly made him curious.

Just like the physical changes in him, (the near total disappearance of his scar, the length of his hair, the sudden aching in his gums) made him curious too. He'd documented the strange seal like mark over his Anbu tattoo and locked the documents about the seal away from prying eyes.

He had also started to be more careful about his chakra and how he used it now that he knew that he had a demon residing with in him.

Naru had accepted his constant presence in her home a little begrudgingly at first but then had simply stopped thinking about the reasons _why_ he was there and simply kept her opinions to herself figuring that his presence must have something to do with the Akutsuki or something.

Shortly after he'd started staying with her, the rumor mills had run rampant with stories of Kakashi having an illicit affair with Naru.

Which was just plain ridiculous considering that the copy nin cared about Naru in entirely different ways than a lover. Another rumor was that he'd re joined Anbu and was acting as Naru's protector.

Another rumor- which was supported by an act of idiocy on Kakashi's part- was that one of the clan heads had gotten pissed at the Hatake and burned or blown up his apatment. Which Kakashi himself had done when Naru had finally asked him to leave so that she'd have no choice but to let him stay.

After a while the rumors died down which left the copy nin with all new problems. One of which was the more nosey members of the rookie nine who had also taken up asking questions about why he was staying with Naru. Where as Sakura had paid a visit to Naru's place a while back and observed his behavior and left smirking.

The copy nin had hated that smirk and everthing it represented due to the fact that it meant that Sakura knew something that he didn't. However when he went to track her down and question her, she was never anywhere to be found. The vexing bitch.

And aside from everything else, he'd taken up counting down the days to the one month mark. _Dreading_ the outcome of Naru's rape and the potential disaster it represented since he wasn't sure how he would explain away the changes in her body. Not to mention that he feared it might somehow trigger her memories, causing her more untold anguish and pain than even _he_ fould fathom.

His expectations for today were no different.

He woke up on the couch with one arm thrown over his eyes and carefully shifted himself a little bit, his back and neck feeling painfully stiff from the lack of room to spread out. But he wouldn't sacrifice this for anything.

Not after what he'd done to Naru.

Whatever happened next, whether it was good or bad- would not be Naru's burden alone. He'd carry his share of it, the pain, the suffering, and anything else that went with it because it was the right thing to do.

Because Naru and her stolen honor were _his_ damned responsibility.

And if there was one thing he never shrank back or ran away from, it was his responsibilities.

He lay there for a moment then sat up and rubbed his hands over his face in an effort to wake himself up completely then dropped his hands and tilted his head to the side a little bit to listen for any signs of Naru being awake. So far he didn't hear anything so it was safe to assume that she was still sleeping soundly in her bed.

He stood up and walked into the kitchen intending to make something for breakfast since Naru wasn't awake to chase him out of her kitchen like she'd been doing after she had gotten completely better from her fever. He pulled some eggs from the fridge along with some ham, sausage, some shredded cheddar cheese and the milk and pulled down a bowl and a whisk and started to crack a few eggs into the bowl.

He sprinkled some salt and pepper over the raw eggs then grabbed the milk and poured some over them then whisked them all together. Then once he was sure that he had blended it all together he went to work on cutting up the sausage and cooking it then grabbed another pan to fix the eggs in when he heard the sound of running coming from down the hall.

And quickly put down the bowl of raw eggs and walked out of the kitchen and over to the hall and peeked down the darkened extention of Naru's home just in time to see her slip into the bathroom looking a little green and slam the door closed behind her a second before wretching and gagging sounds reached his ears.

"_Well hell_." He muttered in a shell shocked sort of tone as he mentally counted down from the day that he'd raped Naru and felt his legs buckle and let himself sink to the floor when he realised that it had been about a month and four days since then.

_Oh god-_ He had known that chances of her becoming pregnant were an even fifty-fifty but honestly he'd hoped that his seed wouldn't take root inside of her. Obviously his hopes had been in vain. He buried his face in his hands and had to bite the inside of his cheek to hold back a distressed whimper and felt the familiar prickling sensation that he only got when he was about to start crying.

This was by far the second most _horrifying_ days of his life.

_Christ why can't we just get a break?_ He thought as he took several deep shuddering breaths and quickly pulled hisself together, opting not to show how devastated he was. For her sake, he needed to remain calm, and cool and-

The bathroom door opened and Naru shuffled out and looked at him with a distressed look on her face and muttered stupidly, sounding a little shocked to the copy nin. "I threw up."

He nodded his head mutely, not trusting himself to speak at this point and held his arms out to her and let her stagger over to him so that he could hold her. A million questions buzzing through his mind. Naru herself must have questions, though she seemed simply too exhausted to voice any of them. Leaving Kakashi the only one to voice his thoughts.

"How long have you been feeling sick?"

"A while-" Naru said tiredly as she leaned into him a bit more, her hands gripping his shirt. She felt like her legs were about to give out on her. She was dizzy, and nauseous. Her head hurt and she just wanted to lay back down and sleep for a month or two straight. "I lost count of the days after about a week."

He tightened his hold on her a little bit as his anxiety spiked. _Jesus Christ! A week!_ Naru had been showing (or in her case, hiding) signs of being pregnant with his baby for a whole frigging week and she had never said _anything_.

_Calm down, Kakashi. She doesn't know why she's feeling sick. To her feeling nauseous might have more to do with some sort of stomach flu than being pregnant. And after the way you snapped and snarled at her the last time she was ill, of course she wouldn't say anything. _Kakashi thought as he tangled his fingers through her silken hair and rested one of his cheeks on top of her head when her legs suddenly buckled on her.

He yelped and quickly slipped an arm around her legs, just an inch or so under her bottom and used his other hand to force her head down onto his shoulder and then carried her to the living room and laid her on the couch half expecting her to protest about being carried around or something but one look at her face and he knew that she was too ill to bother.

"I'm going to go get Tsunade-" He said suddenly as he moved away from her to grab his mask, gloves and headband when she muttered something under her breath that to him sounded suspiciously like,

"I'd rather you didn't. She tends to fuss."

"Right. Sakura then." He said as he pulled on his gloves then snatched up his headband and started to tie it into place when she muttered.

"Please don't." She sounded so weak. So fragile in that moment that Kakashi found himself pulling off his headband and his gloves and sitting down on the floor next to her for a second.

"I have to do something Naru. You don't even know what's making you sick." And a confimation of her condition would go a long way to help him plan what to do next. If he couldn't convince her to have someone look at her then he'd have to go get some medical books and read up on some things so that he could better take care of her.

Uncaring that the food cooking on the stove was just seconds away from burning.


	26. Chapter 26

Thanks to Kakashi-is-hot, I always look forward to hearing from you.

By the way kittens- I want to tell you about what happened to me today because I found it a mite odd. I was out in town shopping when I was suddenly mobbed by a group of no less than ten people, all of whom I'd never met before in my life. All of whom calling me by my fanfic penname Babykitsune.

I wasn't alarmed by this, in fact I found it sort of funny when I asked how they knew it was me just as one of my old teachers from high school walked by with my best friend Robin, singing 'I heard it through the grape vine'.

Then I was like, Ah _now_ it makes sense. (because now i also know who to kill)

Well as it turned out my former creative writing teacher still keeps in touch with Robin and she told her that I wrote on fanfic and the woman mentioned it to her class and asked if anyone had heard of me.

More than a third of her class admitted to reading something of mine as often as they could so she told them about my earlier days. When I was an awkward student in her class. And some of the kids wanted to meet me.

Long story short I was more or less ambushed, _grilled_ like a prisoner of war then asked to help out with some of their creative writing projects. So I spent about an hour doing that before everyone left.

Again, it was a fairly odd experience. And on another note- Robin has been locked in my basement for hours in retaliation. I'll let her out in a few days after she's been traumatised enough.

Now, on to the story since this will be my last chapter for the night.

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Kakashi sat at the dining room table a few hours later with various medical texts strewn across the place and a pile of parenting books, nutrition guides and other books sitting where ever there was space for them. The pile taking up nearly as much room as the open books on the table. He was partially leaning back in his seat, one knee braced against the table, an open book in his hand.

And he kept sneaking peeks at Naru who was napping a few feet away on her side, one hand curled against her cheek, her lisp slightly parted, her skin was still a mite pale due to the bought of sickness from a few minutes ago where she had dry heaved until she had collapsed back against him crying and panting and shaking like a leaf as he pushed the garbage can away until it was needed again.

And just sat there hold her, unsure of what else to do. Once she had managed to doze of he'd sat there a little bit longer and hesitantly put one of hsi hands over her flat stomach and bit his lower lip when he'd felt a surge of _unease-shame-horror-awe_.

He had to shake off that last feeling, thinking that he had no right to feel awed by the fact that his child- His first and possibly _only_ child rested somewhere under his palm, nestled within Naru's body. It was horrifying but at the same time he was in awe of this tiny little miracle that he and Naru had created even though the situation hadn't been ideal.

But most of all he couldn't help the feeling of intense _protectiveness_ that he felt at knowing that Naru was carrying his child.

He looked back at the book in his hands then glanced back at Naru and scowled as the sudden need to rub her stomach and talk to the baby. He shook his head, trying to push the thought aside before he caved to temptation. He tried to focus on what he was reading while mentally chidding himself that while Naru may be carrying his offspring he had _no_ right what so ever to touch her in any way.

Why compact his sins when keeping his distance was so much better for them both.

He wouldn't end up hurting her and she wouldn't end up suffering needlessly. Everyone won...well, sort of.

He turned the page and started to read about the importance of prenatal vitamines and what they did for the female body when Naru made a soft sound and shifted a little bit, drawing his eyes back to her. Again that pesky need to rub her stomach and talk to the little one rose up in his mind.

His thoughts taunting him, _Come on you want to touch her tummy and talk to your son or daughter. She won't notice. She's asleep. _He shook his head again and bared his teeth in a silent snarl and mentally shouted, _Stop doing that!_

He had no right to do those things! And he wasn't. He had more self control than that.

He went back to reading and before he knew it not even ten seconds later he found himself putting the book down and silently getting up out of his seat and walking over to Naru and dropped down to the floor next to her. He rested his folded arms on the edge of the couch and stared at her for a moment before tentatively reaching out with one hand and lightly laid his hand against Naru's stomach again.

He sat like that for several seconds wondering why he was doing this. He'd tortured her enough, hadn't he? So why was he adding to things by doing this?

Still he was unable to pull his hand away from Naru's stomach. For some odd reason this felt..._important _to him. Almost as important as the air he breathed. His mouth suddenly felt dry and he licked his lips and nervously leaned forward a little bit, still sneaking glances at Naru.

Partially to see if she was still asleep and partially because he expected her to wake up and punch the fuck out of him for invading her personal space.

He thought for a minute, wondering what he was going to say. After all, he didn't have the faintest clue what one said to an newly developing life. Eventually though he settled on an awkward sounding, "Hi. You...don't know me, but I'm your dad." And pulled back a little bit with a nod of his head. There that was said. It was out of his system. However his hand stayed right where it was, and he didn't seem to be moving.

Which begged the question, why wasn't he pulling away?


	27. Chapter 27

The pup was fighting himself to try and remain at an acceptable distance from the female he'd vowed to protect. Which was admireable. But his job would be a great deal harder now that said female was carrying his young.

Because his protective instincts towards his offspring would inevitably kick in. Just like his instincts towards the woman herself. And though he understood his pup's reasons for fighting himself, it just wasn't good for him.

And after observing for a time like he'd been meant too, he'd come to understand that his pup had a small- or perhaps _moderate_ attraction to the female. However being forced to hurt her had caused his pup to bury _all_ thoughts of that attraction deep in his psyche so as not to do anything stupid or potentially harmful to the female.

Which was why he found the fact that his pup couldn't seem to pull his hand away from the female's stomach so fascinating. He knew that his pup wanted to pull away, he felt like he'd broken some sort of unspoken rule or code that should never have been broken. Yet at the same time he was so amazed by the fact that the female was carrying his young that he forgot to be more careful.

The female was awake and though she didn't move or speak he knew that she was observing his pups behavior from under her lashes.

He snickered as his pup leaned in a little bit, forgetting for a moment that the female herself was a ninja and as such she was a fairly light sleeper, and observed as his pup stopped leaning in just shy of pressing his face against the female's stomach and made a soft crooning sound and nearly died laughing on the spot thinking. **_Well if he didn't have her attention before, he does__ now._**

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It was inexplicable, and yet totally unacceptable- this feeling welling up inside of him as he crooned softly to his and Naru's unborn child. He should be pulling away. Shrugging it off and pretending that the baby was none of his business. Yet his mind kept screaming at him.

_It is your business! You helped make the little one! _

He kept trying to reason with himself that while this was true, he had no right to feel anything like pride or joy or love towards the child when it had been concieved in such a horrifying way. If anything he should hate the baby shouldn't he?

Even though the child was an innocent and undeserving of his hatred.

He didn't know anymore what he should be feeling. But he knew that he was supposed to feel _something_. Numbness maybe? Shame? Was that what he was supposed to be feeling right now?

He knew that the feeling was somewhere in him, perhaps he'd buried it in the back of his mind to lay in wait for the perfect time to drive him insane. Yes. That must be it. He'd buried his shame for the time being. But it was_ still_ there. Like a snake, coiled in the back of his conscious mind, ready to strike.

Still he couldn't stop himself from continuing his shameful behavior and crooning to the baby. And he might not have stopped at all for a while if Naru's perfect drowsy sounding voice hadn't cut through his mind like a knife, causing him to freeze and fall completely silent as she asked, "Kashi? What are you doing?"

He paled a little bit and gave her a horrified look then jumped to his feet and all at once it seemed, several things happened while he tried to run across the room.

He tripped over the coffee table and tumbled back over it and hit the floor then jumped back up, heedless of the fact that said table was now laying on it's side. And tried to run across the room where he stubbed one of his toes, and fell again and jumped up for the second time and hopped the rest of the way across the room to the chair muttering oaths about dastardly furniture and how much he'd like to chop it up into firewood.

Before he sat down and pulled a book from the shelf next to him and cracked it open and pretended to be reading while Naru raised up and gave him a wide eyed, _What the hell_ sort of look before growling at him, "What the fuck was that about?"

He lowered the book a little bit and looked at her for a moment before looking away, his face a vivid red as he surveyed the damage to the room then looked back at her and decided that it was in his best interest to feign innocence. "Oh! Naru your awake! Finally. There was this huge storm that blew by a while ago and hit us..." He again looked at the damages to the room then frowned and said weakly, "Obviously, we weren't spared. This place looks like a typhoon hit it."

"Would that typhoon be going by the name Kakashi by any chance?" Naru hissed at him like a snake. Her eyes flashing with temper. He set the book aside and gave her his most flattering smile.

"How cute! You want to name the typhoon after me!"

"No! I want you to tell me what the fuck you were doing _crooning_ to my stomach!" Kakashi flinched a little bit at her words and mentally made a note not to get caught next time. And the mental note after that was to figure out where his shinobi grace had fled too.

He knew that people were often bitching about it, and now it looked like he had a reason to bitch about it too.

His toe hurt...

Something whizzed by his head and thudded into the wall with a echoing, thwack and he turned his head slightly to glance at the kunai that Naru had just thrown at him. _Oh right-_ He thought in wary amusment. He should probably answer her before she threw something else at him. Especially since he _knew_ that she'd be able to hit him from this short distance.

"I wasn't crooning to your stomach. I-I w-was doing what my parents used to do-" _When my mother was pregnant with me._ Kakashi thought before adding. "When I was sick."

Naru gave him a doubtful look then started to turn green again and he was quickly up out of his chair and across the room, thrusting the garbage can under her face a mere second before she puked.

_Ah, crisis averted. Thanks for the save kiddo._


	28. Chapter 28

Sometime during the following days since Naru started suffering from morning sickness Kakashi made sure to send a note of warning to Tsunade about a few things. 1) Was that any shinobi that knew about her capture was to remain quiet- or he'd make them disappear.

2) Was that Naru didn't know that she was pregnant yet. After which he'd written the question, Did she have sex ed in school?

Tsunade had written that she hadn't been given any information about sex after which they decided to come up with several excuses to explain her pregnancy away without causing undue harm. So far the list went-

Kissing.

Holding hands.

Sharing toilet seats.

And Asexual reproduction. (Even Kakashi wasn't stupid enough to think Naru would buy that one)

3) The whole topic of the 'S' word was completely _forbidden_ to bring up by anyone who'd had sex ed classes in school or knew anything about anything, under penalty of death.

Tsunade made sure to hold a meeting with the villagers one day while Naru was napping to run the guide lines by them and made it perfectly clear that under_ no_ circumstances what so ever was anyone to tell Naru the truth or they would be executed for causing physical and mental harm to one of their own.

To say that the people were in an uproar about these ridiculous rules was an understatment. Some people felt that what Tsunade was trying to do was wrong.

Why go to such lengths to protect just one person? If something bad had happened to that person then they should just get over it.

Tsunade had had these people led from the gathering in chains and locked up at the Anbu headquarters for their lack of support. After all if Naru flipped out on them, what would stop her from killing every sorry one of them? She was doing this as much for Naru's sake as she was anyone's.

After the gathering Tsunade had had to cover one or two more bases before everything was done.

One of these bases that needed covering was facing down an angry council that wanted both Naru and the baby terminated. But after Tsunade dropped Kakashi's name and hinted at who the father of the child was, they had more than been ready to back down.

Which left only one more base to cover. Books. Anything about child conception and so on was changed. Even some of the parenting books which mentioned the sex organs, their functions and so on were changed for the sole purpose of shielding Naru.

And in the end the woman more than believed that it was worth it.

Which left everything else up to Kakashi. She had gone back over the Hatake's file a few times since the incident a month ago and had found various things that troubled her. Things that had had to do when he had fought in the last war, and then again during his Anbu days.

How he'd been used for the sake of the village had'd always been kind.

And after pouring over the blackened out files over and over again she'd gained a deeper understanding of why he'd freaked out so badly over what he'd done to Naru. It wasn't so much because she was his former student, although that had contributed quite a bit.

No. It had more to do with the behavior that Sakura had reported to her upon one of her visits. Hatake Kakashi, the son of the late White Fang; scourge of enemies far and wide had fallen in love with a simple girl and been forced to attempt to destroy her.

Tsunade closed Kakashi's old files and sat back with a sigh as she nursed a cup of sake. _God this shit was just like what had happened with Rin. _She thought as she took a sip of her drink. She just hoped that Kakashi could hold himself together for Naru's sake.

She didn't want to see him put on suicide watch ever again.


	29. Chapter 29

In the days since contacting Tsunade about Naru's condition Kakashi found himself floundering in deep, shark infested waters. He was quickly becoming obsessed with certain things. Like how much Naru ate and how nutritous the food was.

How much she slept. Everytime he saw her yawn, he made her lay down. He made sure that she took her vitamins that she drank plenty of water and juices to stay hydrated after spending a while puking.

He made sure that she had every possible comfort, that if she wanted to lay down with her head in his lap; he was available to let her. But most of all he found himself becoming obsessed with the baby.

Every chance he thought he could get away with it he'd bound across the room (most of the time startling Naru because he moved like a huge silver and black blur coming right at her) and distract her with something like pointing behind her then rub her stomach and bound back across the room and sit himself down somewhere where he could observe her.

And then there were the sketches he'd started making, trying to disconcern what their child would look like if it were a male or female. He'd look at Naru's features then use what he knew of his own to draw a little face for both genders.

The most perfect ones to date were a real thing of beauty.

But they had him going out of his mind in a really, _really_ funny way. For starters the sketch of his son's features (if he should have one) were the perfect blend of Naru and himself. Making the child in the image so dazzling that he was already planning to get his son a mask so the pedos didn't see his face and chase him through the village.

He figured that until his son learned to defend himself, he'd need the mask to hide himself. He'd be fine though once he hit his teens.

And the picture of his unborn baby girl (like the sketch of his unborn son) was a perfect mesh of his and Naru's features making her so achingly beautiful that Kakashi had had a good long cry after finishing her picture. Then once he pulled himself together again, he started looking into nunnerys.

Because he knew that by the time she was five, she'd be so perfectly _cute_ and _adorable_ that a majority of the villagers would be found floating face down in every river, lake, and pond with in a hundred mile radious.

There wasn't a single man alive that was coming with in seeing distance of his baby girl! He thought with a menacing crack of his knuckles before he quickly put the sketches away where Naru would never think to look for them as Naru stirred from her nap and looked around the room in an effort to locate him. "Hey Naru." He greeted as he hastily lifted himself up a little bit and stuffed the book he'd hidden his sketches in, under his butt and then sat on it.

"I think I wanna go to the doctor now." Naru said tiredly. No doubt she was tired of throwing up and feeling weaker than normal. Either that or she thought she had the flu and had finally decided to give in to common sense and go get medical care. Either reason made him frown a little bit at first.

He took a deep breath to get a grip on himself and then stood up, making sure to snatch up the book in a way that she wouldn't detect and hid it in his weapon's pouch as he said, "Okay then. Lets get you up and dressed and to the hospital. I'm sure that Tsunade, Shizune, Ino, or Sakura are bored with treating everyone else and will be happy to see you even if you aren't at your best."

"Sounds..._ugh_...help me up, will you?" Naru said as she held an hand out for him to grab and help her up. He looked at it for a moment and felt his heart speed up unnatrually in his chest and wiped his suddenly sweaty gloved hand on his pants leg and then grasped her hand and awkwardly pulled her up into a sitting position.

"Thanks Kashi." Naru muttered as she started to get up when she realised that he was still holding onto her hand and looked up at him. His face was flushed red and he had the most uneasy look on his face that it was almost comical. Naru bit the inside of her cheek to smother an amused giggle as a funny thought occurred to her.

Kakashi for all his strength and intellegence seemed to be a pretty shy and awkward fella around girls. Which was sort of funny given that the man had no lack of female companions. It was kind of funny how she'd never noticed that before.

She lifted their joined hands and waved them around where he could see them and asked in an bemused tone, "Is it okay if I have my hand back now?"

He looked at her blankly for a moment then let go of her hand and gave her an shy sort of smile and slowly backed away until his back hit the wall a few feet behind him. She walked by him, giving him a funny look as she did so then disappeared down the hall to get dressed.

Leaving him standing there with his face red and wondering if he was trying to have a stroke or something.


	30. Chapter 30

Kitten's i think i want to try my hand at writing a south park story with a kenny/oc.

For some reason the disfunction seems to appeal to me.

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Naru walked into the hospital forty five minutes later, fully dressed and with Kakashi hot on her heels. And the second everyone in at the nurses station and sitting in the lobbey saw the two of them things got weird.

For starters everyone that had been screaming because of their broken bones and such, automatically shut up and stared at them wide eyed. Whether it was in awe or utter terror, Naru had no idea.

She was just a mite distracted by the sudden wave of dizziness that nearly caused her to collapse.

She felt Kakashi's hands on her. One around the middle of her back, and the other grasping her right upper arm in a firm yet gentle grip. She tipped her head back to look at him for a second as he pulled her back against him and slipped an arm around her stomach and called out for someone to get a chair or something.

All at once the nurses sprang into action along with several wounded people. Someone ran to get Naru a chair. Another ran down the hall to get her a candy bar and someone was right behind him to get her a drink. Another nurse wheeled a gurney over while another grabbed a blanket.

Kakashi's arm tightened a little bit as the nurse that had run to get a chair came running back. His mind blanketed by irritation as he thought, _That bitch. She got Naru a chair before I could. She took my job! _

He created a shadow clone to take Naru for a second then met the nurse half way and thanked her and tried to take the chair from her after making the lame excuse that the chair must be heavy. However she wouldn't let go of it and before he realized what either of them were doing they were engaged in an all out tug-of-war and were hurling _scathing_ insults at each other as Tsunade walked up and paused for a moment to watch the scene before shaking her head and shouting.

"Hatake Kakashi what the hell do you think you're doing?" Kakashi automatically let go of the chair and watched as it and the nurse went down. Both tumbling heels over head before coming to a total stop at Tsunade's feet. Kakashi cringed a little bit, wanting to go help the woman up and tell her that he was sorry but seemed rooted in place by his Kage's stare.

Tsunade looked at the copy nin then down at the nurse then back at him again and scowled as Kakashi rubbed the back of his neck nervously and said lamely, "She wouldn't let go."

"So you decided to jerk her around?" Tsunade asked in a warning tone as she tilted her head a little to the left.

"Uh...no. I just wanted the chair for Naru. She was feeling dizzy." Tsunade looked over at Naru who was being held up by a Kakashi clone and raised a brow and made a humming sound before reaching out and smacking the copy nin in the side of the head, earning a pained yelp from him as he lifted a hand to rub the spot that she'd hit as she used her other hand to motion for his clone to come closer so that she could see Naru.

The clone did as she bid him too, although he was pretty wary of her. "Naru dear, are you okay?" Tsunade asked in a gentle tone as she looked down at her favorite gaki. Naru looked like hell.

Almost literally.

She was paler than normal, looked as if she'd lost some weight, her hair was tied back in a loose and messy pony tail, there were dark circles under her eyes. Tsunade made a tsking sound. Her gaki looked as if she were falling apart at the seams. "I think I'm dying Tsunade." Naru said in a tired tone. No doubt her exhausted due to her current condition.

Tsunade made another tsking sound and brushed a few strands of Naru's hair back from her face and then abruptly turned and started walking, pausing only long enough to indicate that Kakashi, his clone should follow her and bring Naru.

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Once in a room, Kakashi flopped down in a chair and crossed his arms over his chest and looked around at the various posters of the human anatomy hangingon the walls, the little table in the corner with a built in sink and cabinet above it. There was a little narrow bed/table in the center of the room, where Naru was currently sitting.

Waiting to be looked at while Tsunade washed her hands and pulled on gloves and then made her way over to Naru and asked what was wrong with her. After which Tsunade looked at him from over her shoulder, her eyes all but screaming, _Hatake! You haven't told her! _

He looked away from her gaze feeling guilty for keeping Naru in the dark about her condition. But dammit, he just wasn't sure what to say to her aside from "Yeah, sorry. Someone goofed and now you're paying for it. Not to worry though- You have a ton of people who will help you raise the little tyke!"

God that would sound stupid. Even to him. Not only that but he felt that hearing something from another woman might lessen the blow a bit. Naru finished listing her symptoms and Kakashi winched a little bit in sympathy. Jesus it's no wonder the girl had mentioned before that she thought she was dying.

If he had that much stuff wrong with him; well, _dying_ would be the most logical conclusion for his mind to jump too.

Tsunade felt of Naru's neck, checking the lymphnodes and to the copy nin appeared to be giving Naru an normal, average everyday exam. She listened to Naru's heart, took her blood preassure, checked her temp the finally walked across the room and pulled a small slender box out of one of the cabinets and tossed it to Naru who caught it and looked at it with a puzzled frown as Tsunade said. "Go to the bathroom down the hall and pee on the end with paper."

Naru looked at the small box and frowned as she read what it was and then set the box down and jumped down and promptly walked out of the room and slammed the door behind her.

"Well, that's not good." Tsunade muttered as she felt an impressive amount of killer intent coming from outside of the small room.

Kakashi gave her a duh look and quickly got to his feet and grabbed the pregnancy test and ran out the door to find Naru.

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Naru was pissed. She felt she had every reason to be. She absolutely knew now without a doubt that _everyone_ in the village was keeping something from her. Tsunade was keeping shit from her. Kakashi was-

She stopped walking and went utterly still as a strange thought occurred to her. Kakashi had more or less moved in with her without asking a little over a month ago and while she had wondered at his reasons she had never asked. After all he was quiet and didn't get in her way. He was good company. He was- He was-

_Her babysitter. _

She gnashed her teeth and growled like a wounded animal as her eyes teared up. That unbelievable bastard! He'd known what was wrong with her for the last week and hadn't said a goddamn thing. No one had said a goddamn thing!

Why? What was so fucking important that they all felt that they had to tip toe around her?

She'd find out. Oh buddy would she find out. And if everyone refused to tell her anything then outside enemies would be the least of the village's problems because she'd rip it apart bit by bit until she found out what it was that everyone was hiding from her.


	31. Chapter 31

She was standing outside of Tsunade's tower with a torch a bow and some arrows with the tips wrapped in fabric and dipped in excelerant when Kakashi caught up to her. "Naru!" He called a second before hitting the ground right behind her and jerked the bow out of her hands before she could set fire to the arrow and loose it on their Kage's home/work place. "What the hell are you doing?" He snarled in her ear.

Naru's response was to turn herself around and punch him in the shoulder- _hard. _"Shut the hell up Kakashi I don't want to hear anything from you!" She snarled back angrily. Kakashi rubbed his shoulder and looked a little taken aback by her tone. In all the years he'd known her, she had never once sounded so- so _vicious_.

_She has every reason to sound vicious- _Kakashi's mind hissed. _After all, your the one that got her in this mess and then you didn't even bother to mention something to her even if it was only a half ruth. Naru isn't stupid. She's noticed everyone acting oddly around her. It was your mistake in thinking that she wouldn't. _

It was true. All of it, yet Kakashi wasn't sure what to do about it. So Naru had noticed that something was odd about everyone's behavior. That didn't mean that she knew the reasons _why _everyone was acting so strangely. So he needed to come up with a nice semi believable lie since he doubted that she would believe just any old thing.

"Okay Naru, calm down and-" She punched him in the shoulder again and growled from between clenched teeth.

"I. Am. Calm."

"_Right_ so your hitting me just for fun then?" He asked sarcastically and yelped when she punched him again- this time in the stomach forcing the air from his lungs as he doubled over gasping for air.

"Fuck yes I'm hitting you for fun! I want to know what everyone is hiding from me and I want to know now. And so help me god Kakashi if you lie to me about _why_ you've been living with me or _why_ everyone is acting so fucking funny; I'll _rip_ your head off and kill you and blame everything on the hormones!" Naru shouted in a shrill tone that Kakashi had only heard once in all the time he'd known her.

She was using her Sauske-is-gone voice. For her to use that voice with him she must really be distressed.

_You need to calm her down jackass. The stress isn't good for her and could cause her to miscarry. _His mind hissed at him as he finally caught his breath and put his hands up in a placating gesture, hoping to buy himself a little time until she punched him again and said in a breathless tone.

"Okay. I'll tell you what you want to know just calm down-" Naru looked like she was about to say something snide to him about being calm again but he cut her off by quickly saying, "The stress is bad for the baby." Naru glared at him for a second and muttered something under her breath then took a deep calming breath then resumed her glaring with a little less anger.

"I'm waiting Kakashi." She said impatiently as Kakashi wracked his brain to come up with an answer and quickly decided to use her memory loss against her to half assed fill in the blanks.

"Alright, here's the truth in a nut shell. Before you lost your memories you and I were...engaged to be married. Then we went on a small mission- nothing was supposed to go wrong. But a bunch of things did. You were hurt so I grabbed you and ran. I tried to treat your wounds but I'm not a medic so aside from that I had to plan accordingly because I wasn't sure if you would remember me, your feelings, or the life we had been planning to build together. And when you woke up and couldn't remember what had happened. I got scared. You kept calling me Kakashi-sensei. Not Kakashi or koi like you used too-"

"I had lost you... well, the you that was from before. However I couldn't bring myself to prey on you and use your memory loss against you to make you think that we were lovers. Because that would be wrong-" _Sort of like this whole damned explination._ He thought, feeling sick to his stomach. "So I just decided to sort of...watch over you."

"And that's why everyone is acting so strangely?"

"I told Tsunade that I wasn't sure when your memories would come back or if they would come back and she did a few things to make the village a more comfortable place for you. We didn't expect you to wind up pregnant with my baby Naru, and now that you are I can't leave you alone. Do you understand?"

Naru looked torn between the lie he'd woven to appease her and kicking him in the nuts for not saying something sooner. Than after a second she put her hand against her stomach and asked in a slightly frightened voice. "The baby is really ours?"

Kakashi reached out and put one of his hands over hers and smiled a little bit, feeling sad about this whole mess yet strangely happy too. Whatever happened next, he felt he could accept with open arms. But he didn't epect Naru to suddenly ask him, "Do you still want to marry me?" In fact he felt a little thrown by that particular question.

But his mind kept screaming at him, _Go with the illusion! It's the safest way!_ He took a step closer to her and wrapped his free arm around her shoulders and hugged her as he sealed his fate. "If you'll have me. Then yes."


	32. Chapter 32

In the week that followed Kakashi noticed a bit of a change in Naru's pattern of behavior and knew that it was his fault that she seemed to be trying too hard. The half lie he'd told had woven a fairy tale like romance that the girl was desperately clinging to and trying to remember.

And because he had told her that they more than just friends, she'd taken up this peculiar and _intriguing_ new habit of randomly slipping her hand into his and from time to time and shyly kissing it. Once in the morning in greeting. And again at night before she went to bed.

It was cute really.

In an awkward and utterly shocking way since she always seemed to catch him so off guard before doing it. Then there was the other things. The stuff that embarrassed him so much that his hair stood on end and he lost his ability to speak for _hours _at a time.

One of them happened when she was talking to him a few days ago and while he hadn't been paying attention. She'd been trying to say something about lamaze classes (or was it something intresting about her breasts and how the milk production process worked?) and leaned in and lost her balance causing her lips had grazed the shell of his ear.

The jolt of her lips against his skin startled him so badly that he _ripped_ the hard cover parenting book he'd been reading in half before he slowly turned his head to look at her out of the corner of his eye. Causing him to now give her his total and undivided attention now that his reading material had been properly and _inhumanely_ disposed of.

He saw her make a rather hasty beeline for the hallway, her face pink with embarrassment, and didn't see her again until lunch time.

And even then she seemed unusually nervous and refused to look him in the eye until he leaned across the table and kissed her on the corner of the lips. He felt his heart accelerate in his chest and his breath faltered for a moment as his stomach got this weird fluttering feeling in it.

He wasn't exactly sure what had possessed him to do so- maybe he had just thought it was the best way to let her know that everything was okay. Whatever the reason; he hadn't pulled back when he should have.

Instead he'd shifted a little more and sealed his lips over hers, thoroughly shocking the hell out of the both of them as he brought up his hands and framed her face as he kissed her before catching himself and pulling away. Feeling deeply disturbed by what he'd just done yet not understanding why.

And refusing to kiss her again even when she came up to him later on that night before going to bed and sort of shifted from foot to foot nervously and asking him if he'd kiss her again. However because the kiss earlier had caused a peculiar reaction in him he felt it best not to do it again until he could figure out what the reaction was about. Or at least that was how he felt about it.

Which was why he'd taken her hand in his and brushed his lips across her knuckles then walked off. But he hadn't missed the hurt look on her face. There was no way that he _could_ miss it, not when he was living with her.

Which was why he stayed in the guest room that he'd moved himself into until his guilt finally got the better of him and slipped out and silently making his way to Naru's room to rectify things. He was careful not to make any noise since he didn't want to get caught doing what he was about to do, but he felt that he owed her this small thing.

So as soon as he reached her room he took a second to observe her through the small crack to make sure that she was finally really asleep before slowly making his way inside and stealthily made his way over to her bed.

She was sleeping curled up on her side with the covers partially kicked off as usual and he felt his lips quirk up at the corners a little bit before he carefully grasped the covers and pulling them up to her shoulder then leaned over her, bracing one hand on the bed next to her head he leaned down and very gently skimmed his lips across the curve of her cheek then quickly pulled back.

His heart was suddenly beating like he'd just run a marathon and his palms were sweaty. And before he left the room he caught his reflection in Naru's dresser mirror. His face was beet red.

Just what the hell was going on with him? He wondered as he carefully made his way back out of the room and back to his own before collapsing onto the bed and whimpering.

The next morning at breakfast he'd opted to pretend like nothing had happened either the day before or last night and asked her if she would like to set a date and start planning their wedding. He'd told her that money wasn't an issue, so she should plan out her dream wedding and later that day when they went out; Kakashi took Naru to look for a wedding dress or something.

They looked at fabrics, colors- He wondered if she wanted something simple or intricate. He bought her some pearls and an lovely hand carved white mother of pear hair comb with flecks of opal powder on the flower petals and little pale off mint green emerald leaves. It was a beautiful piece and it would fit Naru perfectly at their wedding next week.

To say that being seen leaving the shop with Naru had set certain rumor mills to spinning full throttle would be an understatment.

By the time two of them had returned from their outing at about noon so that Naru could rest, they found several of his former Anbu teammates and a majority of the rookie nine had come by for a visit. Annoyingly, they had come all at once which pissed Kakashi off to a degree since it meant that Naru wouldn't get her noon nap in.

"Kakashi! We heard an interesting rumor!" Genma said playfully.

"Good for you- _Now leave_." Kakashi said absently as he handed Naru the little boxes with her stuff in them and rudely shoved some of their visitors aside so that he could unlock the door and let Naru in. Some people tried to get close to her, to ask her about the rumors circulating about her and Kakashi however the copy nin was having none of that shit since someone might say something they shouldn't and walked over to one of his former Anbu teammates and used his chakra to zap him unconscious then handed him off to one of his other friends and gave the man a warning look.

"I said for you to leave." Kakashi said warningly.

The man gave a nervous sounding laugh and picked his buddy up and turned around and started down the steps. "We're gone man, just don't throw any kunai at our backs." Kakashi nodded his head curtly and watched them go before turning his attention to the rookies standing there watching the exchange with a bit more interest than they should have.

"What do you kids want?" He asked after a moment or so, his tone laced with impatience.

"W-We heard a rumor that your marrying-" Kiba started to say and Kakashi held his hand up to silence the young man and snapped.

"Let me do you kids a favor. The rumor about me marrying Naru is true. Just like the rumors of her pregnancy. Now since I don't know everything that's being said about us, I can only assure you that I'm doing my best here to take care of her... It's her nap time now and she'll not lay down and rest while any of you are here. So please leave and come again in smaller groups, preferably some time in the afternoon once she's rested. You can visit with her then."

"Actually Kakashi-sensei we sort of had a few questions about what happened a month ago-" Neji said and barely had time to react before Kakashi buried a kunai in the wall next to his head, just a hairsbreath from his face and snarled at them.

"_Never. Mention. Anything. About. That. Again._ Or I'll take great pleasure in murdering you." He pulled the kunai out of the wall and with a menacing glare disappeared into the apartment to make sure that Naru was laying down.


	33. Chapter 33

The second that Kakashi was in the apartment he peeked out through the blinds to see if the kids were leaving like he'd asked and felt his ire rise a little bit at Neji's question. After all, who the fuck was the Hyuga to ask about what had happened a month ago? That was no one's business but his, his Kage's, Naru and Gods.

He watched the kids leave after a moment or so, each of them looking thoroughly rattled by his threat as Naru came up behind him. He dropped his hand away from the blinds knowing that the kids would be gone in a second. So there was no further need of him to watch them.

He turned around and looked at her. She had a small box of tea in her hands and asked if her friends were going to come in.

He shook his head no and told her that they would be back later, that for now she should rest then gently took the box from her and laid it down on the table a few inches from him and then reached out and hooked a hand around her nape and pulled her closer so that he could wrap his arms around her.

Naru didn't resist or speak or much of her ususal actions.

She simply let him pull her closer and wrapped her arms around his torso while he rested his chin on the top of her head and ran his fingers through her hair, noting absently that it had grown out a bit more since the incident.

He felt her hands grip the fabric of his vest, along his lower back and _knew_ that she was dying to ask him if he was okay or something and his curved up slightly at the corners before he loosened his hold and stepped back and said, "Your friends will be back later to see you. Until then would you like me to lay down with you while you rest?"

Naru was silent a moment, her expression adorably confused. Then her mind seemed to register his words and she flushed a vivid pink and shyly nodded her head. He smiled- suddenly forgetting his earlier discomfort and ire caused by Neji's question and took her hand in his and led her to the bedroom and stood back while she fussed with the sheets and pillows.

Musing that she acted almost like a bird when it was nesting. Everything had to be just so.

And once she was done she looked at him with a nervous expression on her face as she chewed her lower lip. Kakashi walked over to the bed and slipped his shoes off then laid down and waited patiently.

Half expecting her to jump on him in a similar fashion to that childish excitment she used to display when she was a kid on a mission, however instead she slowly and almost cautiously crawled onto the bed and laid down next to him on the edge of the bed.

He supressed the urge to sigh and turned over onto his side and reached out and grabbed her and hauled her back- chuckling at her when she jumped a little bit upon coming into contact with his front. "Calm down Naru, I'm not going to do anything. I just don't want you sleeping on the edge of the bed. You might fall off and hurt yourself."

Naru didn't say anything, she just turned her head slightly to look at him over her shoulder. Her silken blond hair slipping back from her face a little bit so that he could see her eye before she turned her head back and bent her legs at the knee so that she was almost in a fetal position and wiggled around for a second, her bottom rubbing up against him in a way that almost made him jerk back before she settled down and finally closed her eyes.

He sighed and buried his face against the the part of her nape that was exposed and felt a small tremor run down her spine as he tightened his hold on her a little bit and closed his eyes and tried to relax enough to go to sleep.

It took some time, and some doing on his part since Naru was a little wiggler and he often found her wiggling herself against him in an effort to get more comfortable, but finally after what seemed like forever to him, he was able to drift off into a dreamless sleep.

(*************************************************************************************************************************************************************************)

"Neji are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"I can't believe Kakashi-sensei would attack a comrade like that! Just what the hell is wrong with us asking questions about a month ago? Naru is our friend isn't she?" Kiba growled.

"Of course she is." Tenten said in a subdued tone as she trailed along behind the others.

"All of you be quiet." Neji snapped. He needed to think about some things. One of which was why Kakashi was sticking so close to Naru. Sure she was his former student but it still didn't make any sense. Hell, nothing had made sense since Tsunade had gotten them to go and retrieve Kakashi and Naru. They hadn't been given any details aside from being told, 'Go get them and bring them back'. Then knew absolutely nothing about why Tsunade had sent them.

It was vexing to say the least. I mean who wouldn't be vexed to know that there was a huge secret of some kind- involving one of thier own- and they could see the changes being made, yet didn't know why.

Tsunade, Kakashi, hell even Shikamaru and Sakura and Sai knew something that they themselves didn't. And it was about time to find out what.


	34. Chapter 34

They aren't too OOC in this chapter, are they?

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**_Pup? Pup? Are you alright? _**The voice of his inner demon whispered through his mind as Kakashi slowly regained consciousness from his nap with Naru. He opened his eyes and looked around Naru's bedroom. It was just a quick sweep to make sure everything was still in it's place. He didn't know why but he had a knot in his stomach that was twisted up so badly that he felt as if he might puke.

His mind regeistering that something was wrong within the village even if it wasn't wrong in the apartment. He shifted and tried to sit up but found himself stuck by the slight weight of Naru's body partially resting on one of his arms and partially across his stomach.

He snorted softly and carefully nudged Naru so that she would move and watched her more or less scramble across the bed in her sleep and pull the covers up over her head as she buried her face in the pillow that she had at some point stolen from him. He snorted again as his inner demon tried again to ask him if he was okay, this time more impatiently.

**_Pup? Hey answer me brat! Are you okay or__ not?_**

_I'm...fine. _Kakashi thought, trying to sooth the wolf demon within him. But the demon seemed to know what he was doing and growled at him, the sound echoing in every corner of his mind. Warning him not to test his patience with a lie of _any_ kind since he could sense Kakashi's unease among other things.

**_You shouldn't lie to me pup. Even if it's with good intentions, you should never lie to me. Now tell me what has your stomach so twisted up in knots. _**

_Something is wrong... Maybe not here or with Naru but elsewhere in the village something is happening. _He could almost smell the disturbance occurring elsewhere on the air that he breathed. The air felt so heavy, so thick that it made it difficult to draw it into his lungs. Then there was the undertone of smoke and ash that he detected.

Could it be an omen? Or was his mind playing tricks on him because subcousciously he was still rattled by Neji's question?

**_If you're worried then take Naru-pup and leave this place. Go where no one will think to find you. Where no one can drag you back._**

_Leaving the village would be the same as a death sentence, if anything were to happen we would be defeseless. Besides, Naru needs the comfort and support of the people here. Without them she would wither like a flower and die. _Kakashi thought as he looked back at the bed, at the blond laying there sleeping so soundly before he silently picked up his shoes and slipped from the room.

**_But if you are sensing a threat-_**

_Then I will deal with it accordingly. _Kakashi thought firmly, his chakra flairing a little bit in his agitated state. If there really was a threat to Naru and their baby, he'd deal with it. Even if it meant slaughtering any innocent people who foolishly got in his way.

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Tsunade was in the midst of a crisis when she felt the slight frissure of demonic power from someone within the village and jumped to her feet knocking over her tea cup and her ink bottle a second before her office door opened and several shinobi came running in to report about some enemy nin's that had slipped into the village and killed several of their people.

Tsunade barely heard them as she tried to focus on the source of demonic power she had felt a moment ago, but it was already gone. _Dammit, if we have another bijju running around the village that I don't know about, I'm going to be pissed. _She thought darkly as one of her shinobi stepped forward and grabbed her wrist, jolting her out of her thoughts.

"Lady Tsunade! We need Kakashi!" The man holding her wrist said in a desperate tone. She jerked her arm from his grasp and shoved him back a few steps and snarled.

"Kakashi is unavoidably detained. You'll have to deal with this yourselves!"

"But-"

"What about Naru ma'am?" Another shinobi asked.

Tsunade gave him a mean look wondering why he would bother asking for a pregnant girl to help them fight when it occurred to her that he might have just come back from an extended mission and didn't know that Naru was with child and wouldn't be able to fight again until the baby had grown to about the age of seven or eight.

And even then there was no guarantee that she would want to return to the shinobi ranks. Hell there was no guarantee that Kakashi would allow her to return to work as a shinobi. He may decide that it's far better for her to stay home where he can watch over her and protect her every second of every day.

And if that was what they both wanted from their lives after the baby was born then Tsunade would allow it. It was about time those two crazy kids had some damn peace.

"Naru is in no condition to fight. If you want some back up then I suggest Neji, Lee, and Gai to help you. Now go and take care of those shinobi!" The men looked uneasy for a moment but jumped to do as Tsunade said the second she slammed her hands down on the desk.

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Kakashi paced restlessly across the living room floor trying to figure out why he still felt so uneasy and sighed. God he was giving himself a headache. He walked over to the window for what felt like the hundredth time in the past thirty minutes and looked through the blinds again.

And bared his teeth in a silent snarl at the sight of thick black smoke rising up and traveling across the once pristine blue and cloudless sky before silently calculating how far away the smoke was.

It was less than a block from the apartment. Far too close for comfort.

He moved away from the window with quick purposeful strides calling out for Naru to wake up. He wasn't staying here and waiting to see if a wildfire swept across the way and burned the apartment and everything else to ashs. He was moving Naru to a safer loctation.


	35. Chapter 35

Kittens! Today is my day off! I wanted to tell some of you that I have a new story up called the nice guy. It's another Sakumo/ fem Naru. And I think it's going okay so far.

Sakumo is a quiet, ex marine with a bad tendency to take in strays. Naru is the girl that lives across the street from him. Finally at the end of her rope- no longer running from the men who had murdered her parents as a child and forced her into hiding in the witness protection program. She's done running and is wanting to start over from scratch one last time.

Please be sure to check it out.

Now on to the next chapter of Broken Dolls!

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"Kakashi is this really necessary?" Naru asked as Kakashi growled low in his throat. Obviously upset by this particular turn of events. He didn't like being out in the open when there were possible enemies running amok. Especially since she couldn't fight in her condition.

"_Yes._ There hasn't been any rain in weeks and the wood from the buildings are a wild fire waiting to happen." _And on top of that the fire was so close to the apartment. It's as if someone wants to jump start a wild fire to flush us out. _Kakashi thought darkly as he leaped from roof to roof towards the center of the village. Figuring that if someone was trying to flush them out that they would have a harder time reaching them there since there were usually shinobi swarming all over the place. Like a bee's hive.

The center of the village was the most protected and least likely place for an enemy to reach anyone.

He'd drop Naru off at the safest place then go check out the fire and try to find out what was going on and_ stop_ whoever had set the fire and forced him to drag Naru from her home.

He landed outside of an apatment complex and set Naru down and then grabbed her hand and pulled her along behind him up the steps to the second story and knocked on the door with the numbers 1750 on it and waited anxiously for Ibiki to open up. He heard the faint sounds of someone moving around inside and some swearing that made him sub consciously reach up and cover Naru's ears.

There were just some things that a lady shouldn't hear.

The door opened and Ibiki poked his head out the door looking like he was about to tear into them verbally but stopped the second he saw Kakashi standing there with his hands over Naru's ears. "Fuck. Give me a second to get some clothes on." He muttered before disappearing back inside. Kakashi sighed and slowly removed his hands from Naru's ears as she tipped her head back to look up at him.

"He didn't look happy to see us." She said almost absently as she felt Kakashi drag hsi short blunt finger nails along her scalp in a soothing gesture.

"He's never happy to see anyone-" Kakashi commented before adding. "He always thinks whoever comes to visit has something work related for him to do."

"Don't you?"

"Well yes, but it can't be helped." Kakashi said as the door opened again and Ibiki filled the door waering a black shirt and some cargo pants.

"Kakashi, what can I do for you?" Ibiki asked in a rumbling, rough tone of voice.

Kakashi sighed. "I hate to say this-" Ibiki narrowed his eyes at him, automatically sensing what he was about to say and was displeased by it. "But I have a small job for you."

"Go on." Ibiki said, curious to know what his job would be this time.

Kakashi pulled out his wallet and counted out several hundred dollar notes and handed them to Ibiki and said, "I want to hire you to act as Naru's body guard until I get back." Ibiki looked down at the money in his hand and frowned. Wondering what was wrong when it occurred to him that Kakashi was asking him to watch his girl until he returned from investigating the fire that had been set at the Yolma apartment complex.

He probably thought that whoever had set the fire might have something to do with what had happened to himself and Naru a month ago. And while Ibiki didn't know all of the details of what had happened, he knew that it was perhaps the most _damaging_ thing that had ever happened to either the copy nin or Naru. And that in itself was saying something.

He'd also been given a heads up by Tsunade around the time that the two had come back to the village that Kakashi might knock on his door at some point and ask for his help. He held the hand with the money in it out to the copy nin and got a confused look from the Hatake before growling, "Dammit Kakashi take your money. I'd watch Naru for free."

Kakashi hesitated for a second and took his half of his money back but left Ibiki three hundred dollar notes and said awkwardly, "It's just in case she gets hungry." Ibiki frowned for a seond then looked at Naru and smiled and started to talk to her. Wanting her to go ahead and go inside and get settled so that he could ask Kakashi something.

Due to the fact that Tsunade had given him only the barest minimum of details about the two and the mission that had wounded them to the point where one was never seen without the other- He'd been curious about what was going on and had turned to the rumor mills.

Finding them useful in some cases for information gathering.

He'd heard a few rumors that Kakashi and Naru were lovers and had laughed at that since he knew the copy nin wasn't into cradle robbing. But he'd been hearing some other strange things through the rumor mills that he felt needed to be cleared up if he was going to watch Naru.

He wouldn't ask for more than Kakashi was willing to tell him. But if even one of those rumors was true then he would need to know or he could end up doing more damage than good.

It took a little bit of doing but letting Naru know that he had iced cream in the freezer seemed to seal the deal with her. Kakashi covered his mouth to smother a laugh at Ibiki's expense as Naru brushed by him and went into the apartment leaving the two men alone to talk.

Kakashi sobered up and thanked him and turned to leave when Ibiki reached out and grasped the back of the copy nin's vest, keeping him from leaving as he said, "Hold it Kakashi. I need to know a few things before you take off."

Kakashi visibly tensed and tried not to show any outward signs of distress but Ibiki's tone was all business and brooked no arguments. "What do you want to know?"

"First of all, I heard that you and Naru were on a mission a month ago that ended badly."

"What is it with everyone asking about that?" Kakashi muttered under his breath, anger coloring his tone before he said. "I don't want to talk about that."

"I understand that Kakashi. I wasn't asking for deatils just a mere yes or no will do. You were on a mission a month ago and it ended badly, right?"

"Yes." Kakashi bit out from between clenched teeth.

"Okay, moving on. Naru is pregnant and from what I gleaned of the rumors floating around you've claimed the child as your despite the fact that I know that you've never had that sort of relationship with Naru. Care to tell me what that is about?"

"Naru can't remember whether we've had that sort of relationship or not." Kakashi said in a slightly alarmed tone. Ibiki gave him a puzzled look then assured him that he wouldn't tell her anything earning his next answer knowing that Ibiki might be able to read more into his answers than he wanted him too. "No."

Ibiki sighed and closed his eyes as everything clicked together in his mind. Damn. That was fucked up. Yet it was one of the things that Koinoichi were trained to deal with. However he knew even without looking at Naru's file that the village elders had kept her from being trained to deal with such a situation when she was younger which was part of the reason Kakashi stayed so close to her.

_Dammit Kakashi. Why didn't you come to me sooner? I could have helped Naru_. Ibiki thought darkly before asking two last questions. Was Naru pregnant? And was the baby really Kakashi's?

Kakashi's answers startled him as much as they shocked him speechless and before he could so much as say another word the copy nin was gone.


	36. Chapter 36

Ibiki was still reeling in shock when he finally went into the apartment to do what his friend had asked him to do. Naru was sitting at his table with a bowl full of ice cream in front of her looking like the most content person in the world as he pulled out a seat across from her and sank into it. "Hey Naru. Got enough ice cream?" The girl took a bite of her cold treat and shivered as she nodded.

"I left you some if you want it." Naru said once she swallowed what was in her mouth.

Ibiki smiled at her. "I'll get it later. So... Kakashi told me that your expecting."

"Yeah."

"How far along are you?"

"A month. Give or take a few weeks."

"Ah, so that's why you aren't showing yet-" Ibiki said as she finished off her ice cream and leaned back in her seat and looked at him. "Has Kakashi been taking good care of you?" Naru frowned a little bit at his question and wondered why he would ask such a strange thing. Anyone that knew Kakashi knew that he wouldn't _not_ take care of her.

Then it occurred to her that Ibiki was questioning her in such an obvious way because he was trying to gather information. Though she had no idea what sort of information he was after or who it was on. Kakashi or her. She wasn't sure, but for now she'd just go with it since his questions seemed harmless enough.

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The enemy nins that had set fire to the buildings that had driven Kakashi to remove Naru from their home, went easier than expected. By the time he caught up to the men Gai and his team had already captured and tied them up. Which was all well and good but before Kakashi let his old freind take the two away he felt it necessary to question them.

His paranoia about the men that had forced him to harm Naru- somehow managing to track them down to the village to see if they had self destructed, driving his mind. After all hadn't he sworn to protect her? Hadn't he made a contract that had changed him into a demon container just for that purpose? "Gai, would you mind if I questioned these two before you take them to Tsunade?"

Gai looked at him strangely, apparently finding his need to ask them _anything, _odd in itself. Yet he said nothing about it. "Sure. Go ahead." Gai said as he shooed his team off and told them to leave for a little bit. Lee, and Tenten did as they were told easily enough but Neji refused to be shaken off so easily.

Something that made Kakashi's attitude towards the young man increasingly _hostile _since he took the chance to fling a kunai at the Hyuga while he argued with Gai about the reasons why he should stay.

The kunai missed the young man of course, and earned a few looks of shock and disbelief from Gai and his kids before Kakashi growled at Neji to get lost. _Now. _Before he lost his temper. He didn't have time to deal with the brat's stubbornness. Not when he had some men before him that may know something about the incident a month ago.

Gai slipped an arm around Neji's shoulders and half pulled half dragged him off to where Lee and Tenten were standing, well out of earshot forty or fifty feet away. Leaving Kakashi with _some_ privacy.

The copy nin squatted down in front of the two nins and looked at their headbands. The gleaming silver metal bore the insignia of Rock country. That was a great deal further away than Kakashi and Naru had been on their last mission so while it was slightly doubtful that they had come to see if they were dead yet, he couldn't help but wonder if the men really were from Rock country or someplace else.

Hell, it was easy for a nin to become someone else.

When it came to shinobi vs shinobi, all one had to do to blend in was kill the enemy. Take his headband, his vest and any distingushing weapons and _voila _you blended in with everyone else. You didn't always have to change your appearance, or facial features.

So he couldn't completely rule out the fact that the men _were_ from the same area he and Naru had escaped from. That they had come to the village looking to see if they were dead. "So you guys are from Rock country?"

The two men looked at him and subconsciously shifted closer to one another before they bothered to nod their heads. Kakashi narrowed his eye at them, wondering why they didn't answer him verbally. "Hn. You know your lives are on the line right now. You could try harder to convince me that you're not after a certain pair of individuals in the village." Kakashi said casually as he studied the pair for any odd reactions to his words.

The two shifted closer to one another and glared at him. He smirked under his mask, his expression dark and menacing. It would seem that things weren't totally over between himself and the men that had caused Naru's wounds. They must have hired these two to flush him or Naru out for recapture so that they could finish what they had started without breaking the contract that they'd all signed with their blood.

_Bastards. As if I'd ever let you near Naru again. _Kakashi thought as he leaned forward a little bit and grasped the men's headbands in his hands as he whispered. "I hope you've settled everything with god. Because you'll be leaving the village in_ pieces_ once I'm done with you." He pulled off their headbands and then stood up and waved a hand at Gai to let him know that he was done then vanished to go speak with Tsunade.

As far as he was concerned any man that so stupidly strode into the village hoping to capture himself or Naru (especially Naru in her current condition) deserved the most painful death imaginable.


	37. Chapter 37

Tsunade was trying to relax in her office after a day spent finishing up paper work when Kakashi came up to one of the large windows behind her and tapped on the glass. Worried that something else may have happened to Naru, she quickly got up and let him in and was a tad bit startled when he dropped _two_ Rock country headbands onto her desk then growled.

"I want both of the men who wore these dead."

Quietly stepping away from the window she scrutinized him, wondering why he would demand such a thing when she was feeling inclined to have the intruders questioned and dealt with according to prodocol. After all she couldn't kill _every_ outsider that entered the village. Even if some of them had less than honorable intentions.

It just wasn't right.

Not only that but depending on who the intruders knew- killing them could start a war. And she just wasn't willing to put her people through that just to sooth Kakashi's- Come to think of it, why did he want the men dead?

Why not simply maim them in a less life threatening way and leave it at that. Why did he specificly come here to her office to demand their deaths?

"Why do you want them dead Kakashi?" She asked after a moment or so of silence, her golden brown eyes taking on a calculating look. Kakashi looked a little bit uneasy but then answered her.

"I think those men were sent here by the ones who hurt Naru." Tsunade tensed visibly and cocked her head.

"I thought that you used a demon contract to keep them from coming after you both."

"I did. But that doesn't mean that they may not _hire_ others to come after us." Kakashi said, putting emphasis on the word 'hire' to point out to her that even demon contracts had loopholes. Tsunade's jaw dropped open in shock and horror as the implications of his words sank into her mind.

_Dear god in heaven- _If the nins that had signed the contract that Kakashi created, had found out about the loophole just mentioned and decided to use others to finish Naru and Kakashi off using more dastardly deeds than were used before...

She put a hand over her mouth as bile rose up in her throat.

Now she understood part of the reason Kakashi was always acting so paranoid. Why he refused to leave Naru's side for long. He had known about the loophole and had been looking for trouble from the beginning. His desire to prevent another tragedy from happening was admirable but- "Kakashi you know that I can't kill them without _proof_ that they were sent by those men. They would also need a reason to come after you both after so much time has passed."

"The reason is obvious Tsunade- They came here to see if we were dead and to kill us if we weren't." Kakashi snarled angrily. Tsunade understood his feelings, especially since Naru was expecting but she still in good conscience kill the two nins from Rock. At least not until she knew for sure that they had been hired to seek out Kakashi and Naru specifically.

"Calm down Kakashi. I get where your coming from-"

"Do you? Really? I somehow doubt that." The copy nin said in a rumbling tone that was neither calm nor pleasant. She sighed and rubbed the spot over her left eyebrow, feeling an headache coming on.

"Kakashi, it's normal that you- as a man and an expectant father, would feel as you do now. And I'm not saying that your fears aren't founded or valid. They are. But I cannot kill those men simply to put you at ease. However if we learn that they came to the village to do harm to you or Naru, they will be dealt with accordingly. Now... why don't you go back to Naru and see how she's doing, hm."

Kakashi looked mutinous for several seconds but then gave a curt nod and headed for the door and slipped out without another word. Tsunade was going to be a pain in the ass for him about this. But she was right, he needed to check on Naru.

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Ibiki draped a wool blanket over Naru as she lay dozing on his couch then stepped away and looked at his clock. Kakashi had been gone for about two hours now and while it wasn't unusual for him to be late wherever he went, Ibiki couldn't help wondering where he was or if he was okay.

Naru made a small noise and curled up even more on her side, drawing his dark eyes to her for a moment before he stepped in close and brushed her soft hair back from her face and whispered.

"Sleep easy Naru. He'll be back soon-" She settled and her breathing pattern changed to indicate sleep and Ibiki smiled a little bit and muttered softly to himself. "Good girl." Then stepped away from her again and moved over to one of his other seats to sit down and do some light reading while he waited for Kakashi to come back.


	38. Chapter 38

Kakashi didn't go by Ibiki's right away to check on Naru like he had meant too. Instead he stopped by the interrogation room where one of the men he had captured was being held- and listened in on his talk.

Trying to determine for himself if his parinoia really was getting the best of him this time or if there really was something to it like he thought. Unfortunatly for the copy nin the guy doing the questioning in the suffocating little room seemed to sense that he was just outside and became very nervous.

Ten minutes into the interrogation, Kakashi's presence was made known to the enemy.

And the copy nin had to fight against the five Anbu that now stood between him and the _dumbass_ he suddenly wanted to rip apart with his bare hands.

So after smacking around the Anbu and making sure that they had some nice, wonderful bruises to show Tsunade, Kakashi deemed it in his best interest to disappear while he could.

Leaving the semi conscious bodies littering the floor of the hall as a silent warning to the enemy in the room. _Stay away from me... Stay away from mine..._ Naru and their baby was off limits._ Period_.

Kakashi didn't care who came after them- he'd kill them all.

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Ibiki had gotten to chapter twenty when he heard the faint tapping on his front door, followed by the traditional scraping sound of fingernails across wood. The sound that he most associated with Kakashi from his Anbu days. Snapping the book closed, Ibiki quickly got to his feet and set the book aside then glanced at Naru.

Finding it a little bit odd that the scraping sound didn't seem to bother or awaken her when under normal circumstances she would have bolted upright with a kunai in both hands, her eyes wide and almost frightened.

It was as if the pregnancy was completely exhausting her.

Which probably wasn't far from true considering that one in every five Hatake offspring fed off of the chakara of their mothers while still in the womb. But most Hatake kids didn't start doing that until later on in the pregnancy. Or when they were in danger of being miscarried.

Frowning at the thought Ibiki figured that it couldn't hurt to mention _that_ to Kakashi.

After all, he seemed unusually attached to the child. So it would only stand to reason that Ibiki might need to pass what he knew about Kakashi's clan, along, so that the man could take steps to prevent disaster. Walking over to the door, Ibiki pulled a kunai that he kept hidden under his shirt, at the small of his back and then opened the door to see Kakashi standing there looking like he'd like to murder someone.

"What took you?" The copy nin asked in an impatient tone as he looked Ibiki over, wondering if he could maybe get away with punching him for making him wait so long. Didn't Ibiki realize that by making him wait, he had already imagined a thousand _horrible_ things happening to Naru?

He needed to see if she was okay dammit! He needed to see if their baby was okay!

But most of all- he needed to remove her from harms path. His mind kept playing over the incident a little while ago and practically screaming, _Move! Move! Move! _It was for the sake of his new family. For the sake of the young he wanted so desperately to hold in a few months time.

"Sorry, I was checking on Naru-" Ibiki finally said, picking up on Kakashi's bad mood and borderline panic like it was a neon sign. "What is it? What's wrong?" Ibiki asked as he stepped back and let Kakashi prowl his way past him and into his home.

The man walked over to the couch and dropped down to a squat and rested his elbows on this thighs as he looked Naru over. His earlier aggravation seeming to melt away in an instant.

Well, didn't she look like an angel? Peaceful and content in her slumber. As if nothing of the evils in the world could ever touch or disturb her. God he envied her that.

"Has she been like this the whole time?" He asked after a moment or so as he lifted one hand and gently ran his fingertips along the underside of her jaw and chin and smiled when she squirmed in her sleep.

"Nah. She fell asleep a little while after scarfing down what was left of my ice cream-" Ibiki said with an amused grin. Kakashi gave him a small grin of his own then turned his head back to the sleeping woman to hide his expression from Ibiki again. "What's wrong Kakashi?" Ibiki asked again, deciding that he could temporarily put what he _had_ been going to say to the Hatake on hold for now.

"I think old ghosts are trying to come back to haunt me-" Kakashi finally said as he looked back up at Ibiki. All faint traces of tenderness that had been in his expression before, was now gone. Leaving the man looking like he had back in his Anbu days.

He looked every inch the cold assassin he had once been. "The ghosts can have me..." Kakashi said then looked back at Naru. "But I'll be _damned_ if I let them take her and the little one."


	39. Chapter 39

Tenten shifted uncomfortably next to Neji as he read the copy nin's lips, his expression going from curious to unsettled as Kakashi talked with Ibiki. Old ghosts? He wondered as Kakashi paused when Naru shifted on the couch and moved instinctively closer to him. Even in her sleeping state she sought him out.

It was something that the young Hyuga would never understand.

But then he didn't really care about that. He'd come here after seeing Kakashi leave Anbu headquarters and had followed the copy nin at a distance so that he could learn something.

_Anything_ about why Sakura and Tsunade got that haunted look on their faces whenever someone said Naru's or Kakashi's names. Or how about the sad look that Shika got whenever he managed to visit Naru for a bit.

The same sad look that he'd had on his face the day Asuma had been lain to rest.

Neji blinked as Kakashi picked Naru up off of the couch, still wrapped in the blanket and caught a peculiar expression on Ibiki's face an instant before the man blanked it and asked. _"How will you keep the ghosts from taking her?" _

Neji saw Kakashi's shoulders shake slightly and got the impression that the copy nin was laughing.

It must have been a humorless laugh because Neji could see the curving of Kakashi's lips as they twisted under his mask into a silent snarl before he replied. _"I'll make her so untouchable hat daring to get close to her would be considered an act of war." _

Neji blinked again thinking that what the copy nin was saying was impossible while nearly ripping his hair out in frustration.

Dammit! He hadn't learned anything from this trip with the exception that Kakashi was nuts!

There was _no way_ to do what the Hatake had said he would do. Even with help from the Hokage and the fire nation daimyo's, his plan still wouldn't work. Not without someone with a _lot_ of political power standing behind them all.

He saw the door to Ibiki's apartment open and Kakashi stepped out with Naru cradled against his chest, sleeping as innocently as a child and sighed. _Well...this whole trip has been a bust, hasn't it?_ Neji thought as Kakashi waved bye to Ibiki awkwardly then started moving.

Tenten shifted next to him again and he finally looked at her, knowing that she was probably glaring at him for dragging her along to spy on one of their own. He turned his head to look at her and saw that glower on her face and deactivated his Byakugan and sighed again. "Something on your mind?"

"Yeah. Let whatever you're after go." Tenten snapped at him. Neji looked at her blankly as if to ask, _Would you let something go if it hurt your friend? Or would you hunt down the source and beat it to a pulp? _Tenten banged her head on his shoulder to show her frustration over this mess then sighed.

It wasn't that she didn't understand where Neji was coming from. She did.

Naru had proven herself to be one of the single greatest friends the Hyuga had ever had aside from Lee and their sensei. So it was only natrual that he would be worried in this way... Although if it were her; she'd simply sit back, watch and wait for Naru to come to her instead of stalking her all over the place like a freak.

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Kakashi stopped walking and looked back over his shoulder at the building a ways back and narrowed his eye. He could sense the Hyuga boy and another from Gai's team. He wasn't a fool, he knew that they had been there the whole time. That was why he had been careful in choosing his words during his talk with Ibiki.

He hadn't wanted the Hyuga to know anything about what was going on. Still... the boy was far too persistant for his liking and would need a good talking too.

Turning back around, he started walking again and felt Naru press her face against his neck and had to struggle not to drop her as he flushed under his mask. Now this was his idea of nice.

Having Naru curled up against him like this. Knowing that she and their child were perfectly safe. He would do anything to make time stop so that he and Naru and their baby could stay like this forever. But he was a realist and knew that there was no way to stop time.

Still that didn't mean that he couldn't be a whistful man. And even whistful men knew when to draw the line in the sand.

He reached up and slipped one hand under Naru's hair at the nape of her neck and smiled a bit when he heard her murmmer, "Your hands are cold." He chuckled in amusement and slipped his hands into her hair, letting the silken strands slip from between his fingers as he sobered.

He had a lot of work to do to make his girl untouchable. And only a few months left to do it in. Which meant that he would have to rejoin Anbu- the black ops, then talk to Naru about quitting being a shinobi completely.

That way if anything ever happened to him, at least their baby would have her.

Everything else he'd figure out as he went along.


	40. Chapter 40

The next chapter will have a month time skip where we'll get to see Kakashi trying to woo Naru.

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He didn't bother going back to Naru's little apartment, no matter how much it had become his home too. He simply couldn't risk going back and walking into an ambush. So instead he took Naru to the old Hatake estate in the center of the village where the other clans lived.

He'd sent Gai there earlier to check out his old childhood home which had been remodeled about a year after Tsunade had become Hokage. Which Kakashi had seen as a slightly subtle hint for him to settle down, marry and have a kid or two so that his bloodline wouldn't end with him.

He hadn't felt so inclined to do so then.

But now... Now everything had changed and for better or worse, he wanted to do what was right. In the time it had taken for him to walk from Ibiki's to the middle of the village where his old childhood house was he had already decided on a plan of action to make Naru untouchable.

First off, he would be rejoining the Anbu black ops.

Secondly, he was going to marry Naru and make her the head of the Hatake house. Which meant that he would be relinquishing part of the power he'd held all these years to her along with the fortune and lands his father had left for him before he had died.

This was a slightly terrifying idea to him for reasons he didn't understand.

But _dammit_! He was already commited to the idea and he was going to go through with it. Besides his son/daughter would benifit from his being married to Naru.

The third step would be to dethrone Tsunade and either take over himself or place Naru in the office of the Hokage and merely stay close to her as a personal bodyguard.

He shook himself from his thoughts just in time to pause outside the house, right at the bottom step and looked up at the place he'd lived in up until his father had died and felt Naru shift against him a little bit. Turning his head slightly so that his mouth was close to her ear, he hesitated for a moment knowing that there would be_ no_ turning back from this and whispered softly. "Welcome home sweetheart."

Walking up the steps he made his way to the door and opened it and blinked in surprise when he caught sight of the darkened living room aglow with candles. But that wasn't what he found the most suprising. No- it was the futon spread out in the middle of the room a few feet from a small table with food spread all over it.

His eye widening in apprehention as he realized what he was looking at.

_Oh dear god- _This was just..._bizarre. _Even by Gai-ish standards. Flushing under his mask, Kakashi let his eye wander around the room. Taking in even the smallest of details.

There wasn't much in the way of furniture.

So the candles had been carefully arranged so that they were out of the way enough not to be knocked over while still shedding enough light to see. The food consisted mostly of cooked clams, shrimp, lobster tails, mussels and salad with home made dressings and sauces.

Everything looked like it would the day Kakashi married Naru with the exception of everything being covered in flowers.

_This is eerie._ Kakashi thought as he continued to look around. Standing there peering into his old home as if it were a crystal ball that he was looking into. Naru rubbed her face against the side of his neck and stirred from her sleep. "Kashi?"

Somewhat startled by the sound of her voice, Kakashi jumped a little before answering. "I'm here Naru."

"Do I smell food?" Naru asked as she brought her arms up to wrap around his neck, her tone curious as she sniffed at the air. Blinking his eye and wondering how he hadn't seen that one coming, he stifled a laugh by biting the inside of his cheek and set her on her feet.

And watched her look around her new home curiously and couldn't help but feel a bit anxious about what she thought of the set up that Gai had put together. Would she like it? Hate it?

Or would she be like him and wonder what the hell they were supposed to do? Because his mind was going in a million different directions at the moment and he was trying _desperately_ to keep it out of the gutter for Naru's sake.

She finished looking around and glanced back up at him with a peculiar look on her lovely face that Kakashi found just adorable. So much so that he got this odd fluttering feeling in the pit of his stomach.

_Butterflies? _He thought in shock. When was the last time he'd had butterflies about anything?

He wondered as he found himself reaching out, his mind blanking for a moment as he leaned down and managed to kiss her square on the mouth before he realized what he was doing and jerked back, and nervously cleared his throat and managed to rasp in a near breathless tone, "Lets eat something."

For some reason he didn't understand he was suddenly feeling ravenous.

He just hoped that Gai's cooking was as good as it looked. He didn't want to wind up in the hospital tonight. Nor did he want Naru to wind up in the hospital. Especially since getting food poisoning could put too much stress on her and cause a miscarrage. Then he'd have to murder Gai and do something with his mangled body and he just wasn't in the mood now that he'd kissed Naru.


	41. Chapter 41

Wow. I've got forty chapters to this story so far and I'm still not done.

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A month later-

He woke up feeling slightly chilled and glanced towards his bedmate with the vague recolection of falling into bed with her and slipping into an exhausted sleep as soon as he got back from work and got a kiss from her after showering.

It had been this way for a while. Almost over four weeks since he had walzed into Tsunade's office and demanded that he be put back on Anbu duty and assigned as Naru's bodyguard.

Both of which the woman had readily agreed too.

But with a few minor conditions that he had shrugged off since he was basically fulfilling them anyways. Condition one- he had to move back into his childhood home. Apparently Tsunade was a mite slow on the draw since he'd already done that behind everyone's backs. Mainly because he had felt that doing so was in his best interest since he was going to be settling down.

Another reason for doing everything in secret was so that he could woo Naru and ease their way into an actual relationship without feeling rushed. The only problem was that he and Naru had been seen cuddling by Hyashi Hyuga and Gai.

Which had sparked the gossip mills until he had gone to every blue haired nobles home and threatened to burn them down with the old biddies inside that is.

And then there was condition two- he had to marry Naru.

Not try too. But actually do it.

As in he'd been given an order by his Hokage and couldn't disobey.

Again, she was a mite slow on the draw. Not that he could blame her any since he had silenced her only sorce of info within the village for his own selfish reasons. But dammit he wanted to take his time and give Naru the perfect romance before popping the question. And he could only do that if everyone else _butted out_.

So natrually he was taking his time and driving Tsunade crazy while he was at it.

He rolled over on the twin size bed that he had gotten just so that he could get used to sleeping next to Naru and cracked his eyes open to see where the blanket went and snorted in amusement when he saw Naru had rolled herself up in it to the point where she looked like a caterpillar in a cacoon with only her face peeking out at the top.

This had become a daily occurance in the past weeks since they had moved into the house. For some reason that Kakashi couldn't fathom, Naru seemed to think that a window somewhere in the house was open or cracked.

And it was because of this inane belief that every night inbetween the times of four and seven a.m. an imaginary wind would blow and find it's way to the bedroom- and she would steal the covers and wrap herself up in them.

Frankly he knew better than to argue with an overly hormonal woman, but he thought she kept getting chilled because she had poor circulation. He yawned and rolled over so that he was facing Naru and just sat there for several moments, enjoying the peace and quiet while Naru slept and tried to think of something romantic that he could do with her today since it was his day off.

He supposed that he could start by getting up and fixing her breakfast since she would be as hungry as a pack of wolves when she woke up, but he was relunctant to move.

Besides... She was cute when she was asleep. So much so that he had become fascinated with watching her when he was awake.

Propping himself up on one elbow he reached out with his free hand and ran his fingertips along the bridge of her nose just to mess with her. He was curious to know if she could wiggle out of that blanket if her nose started to itch. It took a second or so, but inevitably Naru started to squirm and wrinkle her nose in her sleep. Making her look like a bunny.

The imagery was funny. Almost as funny as watching her squirm around for nearly ten minutes before finally managing to free one hand enough to scratch her nose while muttering curses in her sleep. Kakashi had to bite the back of his hand to keep from laughing out loud and waking her.

She was just too funny!

But it was time for her to get up now.

So reaching out again, he repeated his earlier actions until she started sneezing then quickly drew back his hand and rolled over and closed his eyes and pretended to still be asleep as she slowly opened her eyes and used a finger to rub the underside of her nose as she slowly and clumsily sat up.

Glancing down at Kakashi she wondered tiredly if she had accidentally woken him up, then after a second or so realized that _he_ was the one who had woken her up and muttered about him being a jerk and not letting her sleep in today as he opened his eyes and feigned still being asleep.

She knew better. After being on team Kakashi and then living with him these past two months- She knew that the man could go from out to awake and aware in the span of 0.2 seconds. "Good morning Naru." He said in that rough almost purring tone that his voice took on early in the mornings when he was the most content.

She glared at him for a second, feeling irked that he thought he could get away with waking her when she didn't want to wake up. But the feeling vanished easily enough after a heartbeat or two. "Mornin Kashi." She said in a drowsy tone as he sat up and leaned in and kissed her cheek.

It had become a ritual of sorts for him.

He had even drawn out a chart for them so that she wouldn't feel smothered or overwhelmed. The chart went something like this- One kiss on the cheek in the morning. Another on the forehead and on her stomach, before he went to work. A kiss on the lips when he came home from work. And at night before he fell asleep, he gave her another kiss on the cheek.

It was sweet of him.

But she wished he'd make more time for cuddling and holding hands herself.

She saw a hand wave in front of her face and shook herself from her thoughts and looked up at Kakashi whom was crouched down on the bed in front of her with an anxious look on his face and realized that he must have said something to her and gotten worried when she didn't answer.

"Sorry Kashi, I zoned out. Do you mind repeating what you said?"

Kakashi gave her an unblinking look as he slowly nodded his head and visibly relaxed some. "I asked if you would like to go out on a proper date. It occurred to me of late that we've never been on one and I wanted to take you on one-" He flushed some as he contined. "Or if you're too tired to walk around town being lovey dovey with me then maybe I can fix something up here at the house. A picnic or something... Maybe..."

By the time he was done speaking you could have fried an egg on his forehead- he was so red. Naru thought in amusement as he fidgeted a little bit, clenching and unclenching his fists in the bedsheets until it looked like he may rip them to shreds. Reaching out she quickly grabbed his hands and pulled them away from the bedsheets and smiled at him.

A date with her Kashi. Now that sounded like it could be fun.

"I'd like that. What did you have in mind?" Naru asked curiously. Kakashi looked as if he'd been slapped for a moment. He was so stunned. But the second he recovered he started talking excitedly about a carnival that had just come to the village, some window shopping, lunch, then going over to the flower shop-

He threw out so many alternative things to do that Naru's mind was reeling from it all. But after a few minutes or so she finally managed to put something together. Window shopping, flowers, lunch, then they would come home and curl up together on the couch and watch some movies until they fell asleep.

She even said that they could get snacks before coming home and set things up so that the only reason they'd have to leave the livingroom was to use the bathroom.

Kakashi mulled it over for a minute then wrang the promise out of her that if their plans were too much for her that she would mention it to him so that he could bring her home early. He didn't want her passing out from exhaustion and possibly winding up in the hospital.

Naru promised and they shook on it and quickly bounded out of bed in their usual morning fashion to see who would get to use the bathroom first.


	42. Another rant

_Rant about animal abuse-_

The story of Ugly the Cat

On the web somewhere is a story about an grey and white tabby cat called Ugly. Now Ugly was named Ugly because he was missing an eye, an ear, his tail, one of his front legs had been broken and healed wrong. He lived on the streets and because of his missing limbs, he wasn't the cutest or prettiest thing on four paws.

But he was a very loving and affectionate cat.

Now that I've told you about him, I'll move on to the people who helped kill him.

Due to his hard life on the street Ugly wanted only one thing from anyone he came across- affection. To be petted and held and treated like he mattered. However because of his appearance the children in his neighborhood that he would run up to, would kick him.

People would throw rocks at him. And others would turn their waterhoses on him in an attempt to drive him away.

Then one day, he decided to get a little cozy with two huskys. His cries could be heard all over the block. And only one person went to help him. This person had heard his cries and ran out to save him- a creature that no one else deemed worthy of saving.

However he reached poor little Ugly just in time to find his body partially mangled and picked him up to go get him help.

Ugly died due to the ignorance of others.

So take this as a lesson everyone, just because something or someone doesn't look like you- just because they aren't the cutest or prettiest- it shouldn't matter.

To judge on appearances alone means that you're really losing out on something special.

And anyone out there who believes that animals like Ugly are beautiful despite their flaws, say a prayer for him. He deserves it.


	43. Chapter 43

Naru was looking forward to her date with Kakashi.

And as such dressed accordingly in a nice two piece outfit. A pretty pink floral shirt that hugged the curves of her breasts with a matching pink ankel length skirt. She had taken the time to paint her nails, and even style her hair so that it was up off of her nape in a nice twist style.

The look would have been perfect except for one thing...the slightly more noticable rounding of her stomach.

Sighing she folded her hands over her stomach, right over the baby and sat down on the couch and wished that Kakashi had asked her out sooner. Why he would want to be seen with someone in her present condition _now_ of all things, was beyond her.

And that was how Kakashi found her once he was done getting ready for their date.

Sitting on the couch with her hands covering her stomach with a far away look on her pretty face. "What's wrong?" He asked in a soft tone as he shrugged into a nice off grey jacket with sillk lining to match his pants. She looked at him for a moment, her eyes blank, and opened her mouth to speak but then closed it again. Unable to say the words to call off the date.

Especially when Kakashi seemed so set on it that he'd actually pulled out a suit to wear for it.

Narrowing his eyes at her, Kakashi stood there for a moment before growling, "Dammit Naru, talk to me. I don't know what you're thinking if you don't talk to me." Causing her to flinch a bit at his tone. It wasn't often that he got shot tempered with her, but when he did she couldn't help but flinch. For some reason she didn't understand, his tone frightened her.

_He_ frightened her. Just for that second or so then everything went back to normal.

It was silly, she told herself. Silly, and stupid, and irrational to be frightened of Kakashi when he hadn't even raised his voice or acted in a threatening manner.

"Naru?" Kakashi said as he slowly walked over to the couch and knelt down in front of her and took her delicate hands in his and gently pulled them away from her stomach, a small worried frown working it's way across his face.

She looked at him then glanced away for a second as Kakashi asked, "Does your stomach hurt? Is something wrong with the baby?"

She shook her head no and asked, "Why did you wait until now to ask me out on a date?"

Kakashi stared at her, his gaze calculating. This felt like one of those loaded questions/traps that women laid for men so he would have to be very careful in how he answered her. "I didn't think it would be proper to ask before now. What with the baby and the stress you've been under." He finally said as he lifted he hands to his mouth and kissed her knuckles.

"But you know that whoever see's us together today will think the baby is yours-"

"Is that what your worried about?" Kakashi wondered aloud while thinking, Because it was a moot point. Everyone already knew that he was the father of her child.

Naru gave an unladylike snort and muttered, "No."

Kakashi lips curved up in a small smile as he released her hands and reached up to frame her face in his hands and leaned in to kiss her as he muttered, "You are such a liar." As he brushed his lips across hers. Completely unaware of the way her body stiffened for a moment as a fragment of a nightmare slithered through her mind.

She blinked and instead of seeing Kakashi's living room, she saw a small dirt filled cell that smelled rank with blood. There was a small bed against the far corner, under the dim light and she could see chains hanging from the ceiling and hear the sounds of crazed laughter. Then just as quickly as it came, it was gone and Kakashi was looking at her with a concerned look, his face paler than it had been a moment ago as he asked again.

"Are you sure there's nothing wrong with the baby, Naru?"

She blinked again and slowly nodded her head as she forced her body to relax and gave him a slightly forced smile. "Everything is fine-" He looked uncertain and she shook her head. Dear lord the man was a worrier. "Let's go on our date." She said all of a sudden as she all but jumped up and nearly tripped over him in her effort to get to the door.

Kakashi stared at her back feeling a little dumbfounded, he didn't have a good feeling about the way she was acting, but got up and followed her anyways. His need to stay close to her driving him.


	44. Chapter 44

"Are you sure there's nothing wrong with the baby Naru?" Kakashi asked for the umpteenth time as they walked through the market. Naru looked up at him wide eyed, a large bite of caramel apple in her mouth as she mulled over the question. She felt fine aside from the little moment earlier before they had left the house. But she would be lying if she said that it hadn't raised some questions for her.

Questions about why she had seen the room with the chains hanging from the ceiling and the crazed laughter. Questions that she already knew only Shikamaru, Neji and Iruka could help her with.

Not that she needed to tell Kakashi this, he'd probably try and stop her.

So she just smiled at him- that angelic little smile of hers, and held the apple out to him so that he could take a bite. He stared at her, confused for a moment then quickly looked around and then opened his mouth- showing her two nice shiney rows of white teeth, some of which had extra sharp tips. Almost like an animal would have.

"Fascinating." Naru blurted out before she realized what she had done. Kakashi straightened his spine as the caramel apple in his mouth gave an audible _crunch_, and looked at her with a slight frown as he continued to chew the bite he'd taken. Wondering what she found so fascinating that she would almost stare at him like awe- like a child would.

Sure staring in awe was sort of Naru's thing but not normally when she had known you for years.

Swallowing his bite of food he then licked his lips, he thanked her as he slipped his hand around hers and began to pull her down the rows of stalls where the local merchants sold their fares.

The first stall that they came across caught Kakashi's fancy due to the fact that it sold colorful bolts of patterned silk for kimono's. The bolts were laid out so that the customers could simply pick them up and examine the weave work, color, and pattern.

One such bolt was a lovely white with two large peonies at the bottom with flower petals scattered about. Another was a deep sapphire blue that gradually faded to sky blue then white. But the last one that he found was a_ gorgeous_ piece with no pattern at all aside from the pale yellow, pink, orange, light green and sky blue patches of color.

Smiling he showed the bolts of silk to Naru who seemed enthralled by them. Probably because she had never had a kimono or a chance to wear one. Thinking about how he'd like the chance to fix that, he pulled out his wallet and bought the blue one and multicolored one and then tucked the bolts under his arm. Once that was done he grasped Naru's hand again in his free one and tugged her along beside him to another stall.

This one selling fine jewelry where he found a nice engagement ring for Naru- a pretty white gold ring with a fiery heart shaped opal surrounded by small diamonds- and a ring for himself. A nice simple white gold band to serve as a wedding band. Turning to Naru, Kakashi grasped her hand again and slipped the opal ring onto her ring finger.

Naru looked down at the ring then at his face, a puzzled expression on her face as he asked the merchant to hold his earlier purchases so that he could get down on one knee. Figuring that now was as good as any to ask Naru to marry him. Once he was down on one knee, Kakashi kissed Naru's ring- following how generations of Hatake's pledged themselves to their mates, then looked up at Naru's face and tried to think of something romantic to say.

But in all honesty being totally romantic had never been his thing. Pretty words had always seemed like a smoke screen to him. He didn't understand the significance. He prefered simplicity and honesty over all other things. And being romantic was just so- so complex...

Which was probably why he embarrassed himself the first few times he tried to speak.

"Naru I have something important to say- You're- I-" Flushing he fell silent for a moment and wracked his brain for something, anything to help him get this over with and get his point across before he drove himself mad. What he came up with was, "When a man loves a woman... He can't keep his mind on anything else. And I- I adore you. Truly I do. And once I realized that I started hoping that maybe you...uh...maybe felt the same way. Just a little bit..." His face got redder as he continued to ramble. "And I was thinking- I mean, if you don't mind maybe we could take the next step?"

God could he sound any more pathetic? He wondered as his gaze flickered back and forth between Naru's wide eyed stare and her ring.

His stomach lurched dangerously and his hands started to shake slightly. Oh god he felt like he was going to start hyperventilating any moment now. "Kashi, are you asking me to marry you?" Naru asked finally. He couldn't answer, just nod his head mutely and hope for the best.

If she said yes then he'd kiss her into a swoon for saving his pathetic ass. "I didn't know that you felt that way about me." Naru said after a moment or so causing him to narrow his eyes at her. She had such an odd expression on her face. Like someone who wasn't being proposed too but someone who was about to be executed.

"N-Naru?" He finally managed to rasp out after a moment or so. His tone slightly alarmed when she didn't answer him.

She locked eyes with him and blushed a little bit as she asked awkwardly, "Do you...really feel like you like me?"

"Naru, sweetheart, if I liked you any more I would spontaneously combust where I stand."

She frowned and chewed her lower lip for a moment before saying pointedly, "But you aren't standing."

"Yes. And the rocks aren't easy on my knee either. C-Can we get back to business please?"

"Oh. Sorry." Naru mumbled looking embarrassed.

"S'okay. Anyways, I would spontaneously combust where I stand if I liked you any more. You're beautiful, funny, sweet, kind. You're a _hell_ of a shinobi and have on more than one occasion been called everyone's 'sunshine'. You have no idea how much I want to catch that sunshine and call it my own. How much I need you."

"But- the baby Kakashi..."

"What about it?"

"I just can't say yes and let you shoulder all of the responsibility. It wouldn't be fair."

"Yes you can. I want this. I want to have a family with you. So to me the baby is just an added bonus." Kakashi said as he felt his chest ache. That was a lie. Or at least a partial one. As much as he didn't blame the child for how things went down on that mission, he wasn't exactly sure if he could truthfully call it a bonus. It was more of an unlucky, but at the same time happy accident.

God how fucked up was that? He may need theropy in his kid's place.

Naru was silent for a moment before pulling him up. Her smile gentle as she said, "Well, if you insist." Kakashi grinned and hooked a hand around her nape and tugged her in close and settled his lips over her in a searing kiss that when they parted left them both feeling winded and weak as he wrapped his arms around her and held her while whispering, "My girl. My sweet Naru-"


	45. Chapter 45

**Yes, yes, I see the reviews! I'm workin on it dang it!**

**(****Okay ya'll, some of you have been asking questions about how Naru was captured at the beginning of this story- and to be frank I hadn't thought much about it since that particular information was to come out later in the story. **

**Well I've finally figured it out. And with Naru beginning to have flashes from the rape, she's going to have a lot of questions that will need to be answered. So without further adou- Here is Broken Dolls.)**

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The next day-

Naru sat in the floor of the guest room where she had spent most of her morning cleaning, and moving everything aside so that she and Kakashi could turn the room into a nursery for the baby when she found a most curious thing. Her old shinobi belt, the one with the pouches where she carried her gear when she needed to travel light. The one that had vanished without a trace back when she had mysteriously lost her memory.

Reaching under the musty smelling old cot that Kakashi had used to sleep on, she pulled the belt out and frowned. What the hell was her old belt doing shoved under Kakashi's bed? She wondered in dismay as it occurred to her that it hadn't even been emptied of her shinobi supplies. Why the amount of paper bombs she kept inside of this thing alone could have killed her and Kakashi both ten times over!

Muttering about damn men who're part squirrel, she quickly decided to dump everything out of the pouches sewn onto the belt and put everything away. Just in case she ever decided to resume her shinobi career. First she emptied the pouch with the paper bombs and then noted that they had been ripped, not enough to completely destroy them but enough to keep them from blowing up for no good reason. Which meant that at some point Kakashi had taken care of them. Sighing in relief she set the damaged papers aside, even though they were ripped and couldn't be used at the moment, she may be able to salvage them later by making them smaller at the corners.

Next she moved on to her kunai pouch, and dumped out the twenty or so blades that were in there and frowned again when she found that at least five of her extra kunai were missing. How odd. She thought as she moved on to her rations pouch were she dumped out a few ration bars, soldier pills, and her canteen. Blinking at the sight of the shiny metal canteen she made a low happy chirping sound and picked it up.

"Man am I happy to see you." She said to the canteen as she used her shirt sleeve to remove some dirt clinging to one corner of the bottom. And she was happy to see it. The canteen had been a gift of sorts from the Third Hokage when she had become a ninja. He had said to be careful never to lose it. That it had belonged to her late father. Which made it an irreplaceable family heirloom.

Something that she may one day give to her child.

Giggling at the thought she lightly shook the canteen and stopped when she heard the soft sloshing sound of liquid coming from inside of it. Her smile faltered for a moment as she tried to think, when was the last time she had used this? And why did it still have liquid inside of it? Didn't she usually make a habit of drinking everything in it and then setting it aside for future missions?

And even though she hadn't gone on any mission recently- she still would have either drank all of the liquid inside or at the very least poured it out then set the canteen aside. Making a humming sound she popped the top on the canteen intending to drink whatever was left but the moment the lid was off she stiffened and froze with it half way to her lips as she smelled something like decaying meat coming from inside.

The smell was so strong that she nearly flung the canteen across the room as her stomach lurched and her mind practically screamed, _Danger! Danger!_ A mere moment before she heard Kyubbi speak, **_Put the canteen down! _**

Reacting more out of self preservation instinct than out of fear from the tone of the nine tail's voice, she automatically set the canteen down and quickly moved away from it over to the nearest corner in the room and stared at the container, her mind a flurry of activity as Kyubbi spoke again, this time her voice a rumbling growl, **_Well, that answers a few questions. _**

_Questions? What questions? _Naru thought, suddenly feeling slightly panicked.

**_Do you know what that smell was, kit? _**

Naru was silent for a moment as she slowly nodded her head. Of course she knew what it was. She had been given some as a small child by the Hokage- as a lesson so that she would know what it did to people like her.

It was a non lethal poison that had been discovered shortly after her birth. It had been found by Jiraya and she had been dosed by nurses and doctors until she was old enough to start the academy. The purpose of the poison wasn't to kill, but to weaken chakra coils in the body and cut you off from them while also weakening you physically to the point where even holding you're head up was a difficult task.

But for someone like her it caused a great deal of problems.

Unconsciousness, labored breathing, fever like symptoms, trouble moving and instability in chakra flow through the body.

Taking a shuddering breath she stared at the canteen for a moment and tried to figure out how Demon's Breath had gotten into her water. There was only two ways that it could have happened- well okay, three if you counted the fact that there could be someone in the village trying to weaken her to the point where they could just kill her. Something that she wouldn't put past some.

But the only other two ways were 1) If she had put the herb in her water herself while on an under cover mission. After all in small doses it would delay many of the symptoms and merely weaken her... Make her seem more like an ordinary person. Which would also mean that she would have had no means to defend herself. And then there was option number 2) Someone had learned of her habit of flavoring her water with mint or lemon grass and had decided to drug her without her knowledge since the poison itself was undetectable until it sat in liquid for several days.

Which technically fell into category three depending on what the person/persons responsible's true wishes were.

"Demon's Breath." She muttered, finally answering Kyubbi's question as she sensed the demon thinking.

**_Why would such a thing be in you're water, kit? _**

"I have no idea. " Naru said honestly as she felt a curious shifting inside of her body a moment before Kyubbi's menacing growl rippled through her mind,

**_Then it's time to find out..._**


	46. Chapter 46

**Hey everyone- bet your waiting for this next chap. **

**Well that's good cause it took a while to write it, and I wanted it to come out just right. **

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Demon's breath.

That _horrible, vile, evil poison-_

**_'Why would such a thing be in you're water kit?' _**

Why couldn't she remember the reason? It had to be significant to something.

_Didn't it?_ Naru wondered as she leaped from roof top to roof top in an attempt to get to Shikamaru's home that much faster while trying to think of the reasons why she would or may have used that horrible, _horrible_ poison on herself. But all that served to do was further agitate her.

**_Kit?_ **Kyubbi's voice cut through her train of thought as she felt a strangely uncomfortable sensation in her lower back and abdomen. Frowning she slowed her pace a bit and rubbed her abdomen absently as she shoved Kyubbi's voice aside. Whatever the demon wanted right now was a distraction that she couldn't afford. Going back over her prior thoughts- She couldn't think of a single solitary reason.

Kakashi had said that they hadn't been on a mission. And yet things hadn't been adding up from the time she had lost her memories all the way till now. You didn't send a medical escort for shinobi who weren't on a mission- even if one of them had been ill. And as for getting back to the village the day of their retrieval; Kakashi was more than strong enough and clever enough to get them both back to the village safely.

And then there was her 'mysterious' pregnancy.

I mean come on, she may have lacked a proper sexual education but she wasn't so dense that she couldn't figure out that everyone was lying to her about how babies were made. And where they come from. Which was just one more thing that everyone had been lying to her about. She knew it. She didn't understand _why_ or for _what reasons_ they were doing so, but she knew that they were lying just the same. She had merely kept quiet about her thoughts because it was obvious that everyone had been ordered to keep silent by Tsunade.

And then there Kakashi and his sudden 180 degree personality change.

His sudden need to move in with her and take care of her was one of the final pieces of the puzzle due to the fact that the copy nin had no desire what so ever of marrying a nice girl and settling down. And yet... He had proposed to her. He had expressed a strong desire to always want to make her happy. It was shocking really. No scratch that- it had been beyond shocking that he would take whatever joke he was obviously playing, quite so far.

Did no one care how she might feel once everything was said and done? As it was it took most of her restraint just to play along with everyone and act stupid. But no- not anymore. Finally, finally she was going to get some damn answers.

Landing on the street just across from the Nara clan's main gate, she took a moment to stare at the stone blocking her way as if she wanted it to fall to her feet in flames as she caught her breath. Funny how running at top speed while carrying the extra weight of another living thing could cause you to become winded far easily than you were used to. Taking a slight step forward, she felt another albeit a little sharper and more painful twinge in her lower back and abdomen and staggered slightly when her legs almost went out from under her.

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Kakashi hit the ground as Sakura threw another chakra charged punch at his face and went totally still for a split second when the demon inside of him stirred a bit. Almost as if it were straining towards something. Flipping himself up onto his feet again he held up his hand to indicate a pause in training practice and looked around the clearing that he and his former teammates had often practiced in and felt his inner demon stir again.

This time a little more violently causing the hairs on the back of his nape to stand up as Sakura asked, "What is it? What's wrong?" Since it was uncharacteristic of Kakashi to halt a training practice unless the village was in danger, or Naru was involved.

Kakashi was about to reply when his inner demon let out a roar in his mind, that echoed with sounds of fear and grief. _Why? _Why would his inner demon make such a horrible heart wrenching sound? Unless...

Unless something had happened or was at this very moment happening to Naru.

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Something was wrong. She could feel it now in the way her body began to tremble when she started to bleed. Her abdomen muscles cramped violently and her legs finally went out from under her.

Not now! She was so close to the answers!

_But something was wrong with her baby! She couldn't just let it die! _She thought desperately as she dragged herself, in tears, all the way up to Shikamaru's parent's home and clumsily propped herself up and used a shaky, bloody hand to bang on the door twice while she turned to the task at hand. She had to find a way to save her baby.

Even if it meant forfeiting her answers forever.


	47. Chapter 47

_Kyubbi is there anything you can do to help me stop whatever is happening to the baby? _Naru asked the demon as a fresh wave of pain the likes of which she had never felt before in her life. Honestly not even having multiple broken bones compared to this. It felt like something was trying to force her insides out of her body! Making it difficult to breathe as she curled in on herself in an effort to make the pain lessen as she reached out with her hand and hit Shika's door again as hard as she could.

Trying her damndest to get someone's attention before she lost so much blood that she lost consciousness as she heard Kyubbi's panicked reply, **_I'm working on it kit but I know very little about human young- I may wind up doing more harm than good!_**

_Do what you can Kyubbi_, Naru urged the demon before telling it. _If you can save the baby's life then Kakashi and I will always be indebted to you. _Kyubbi fell silent for several heartbeats before saying wearily,

**_Oh kit... You would never be indebted to me if you- Nevermind. Continue to try and get your friends attention while I work on stabilizing your condition. If all else fails, use you're chakra to send up a distress call to your wolf. By now he's already figured out something is wrong and is trying to find you._**Kyubbi fell silent after that and shifted it's focus to the little human sharing it's space inside of Naru's body. The little one may not have been totally formed just yet, but it was aware that something was wrong and Kyubbi could feel it's fear.

It was so strong that the demon could almost taste it on it's tongue. Like ashes after a horrifying fire. Stripping away flesh and bone and leaving nothingness in it's wake. This wasn't good, the demon thought as it coaxed the infant closer to it's cage. The infant hesitated for a moment before another wave of pain washed through it's little space, the muscles contracting around it scaring it even more than before, causing it to reach out to the demon blindly in hopes that it would protect and shelter it from the horrible pain.

Kyubbi gathered the infant close and carefully cradled it in it's front paws and looked down at it. The human kit was a girl, she'd have silvery blond hair and her mother's eyes. But she'd be clever like her father. A small force of nature to be reckoned with.

She was adorable really.

The muscles in Naru's stomach began to contract again and Kyubbi growled low in it's throat and closed it's paws a bit over the child and held it as close to it's heart as it dared as the infant started to cry.

**_Hush little one. You're safe here. The seal will protect _****_you while I have you._ **The infant stopped crying for a moment and looked up at Kyubbi with her big innocent eyes and Kyubbi gave her what it hoped wasn't an _I'm-going-to-eat-you_ smile.

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Naru wasn't exactly alarmed when Kyubbi stopped talking to her since as far as she knew the demon was concentrating on saving her baby. Which was good because she was starting to lose more blood and frankly was trying to think up a good story for when she was found as to why she was on Shika's front porch...bleeding so heavily. So far all she could come up with was; her monthly finally came back with a vengeance and it brought the cramps from hell with it.

Now if only she could get stupid ass Shika outside to help her. She must have hit his front door a dozen times already, and her palm was starting to hurt. "Dammnit! Shikamaru Nara if you don't want me to remove your balls- **_Then open your fucking front door! Now_**!" She screamed at the top of her lungs knowing that if he didn't hear her screaming for him to open the door then she would have to try getting to the hospital by herself.

Luckily for her as she was clumsily starting to get to her feet a shadow fell over her and she looked up to see Shikaku Nara and his two friends. Inoichi, and Choza. The three men stared at her for a second before Shikaku asked in a curious tone, "Naru, what are you carrying on about? Did Shikamaru lock you out or something?"

Baring her teeth she growled at the three men and was about to reply when another wave of pain hit her, forcing her to double over holding her stomach when Inoichi looked down and saw that blood was pooling on the ground under her and swore and shoved Shikaku aside and scooped Naru up in his arms and growled, "Idiot. She's having a miscarriage! Go find Kakashi! Choza, head to the Hokage's tower and get Lady Tsunade. Tell her that it's Naru and she needs to get to the hospital a.s.a.p.!"

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Kakashi stood panting in the doorway to his old bedroom in Naru's home, staring in horror at the contents of her shinobi tools scattered across the floor. _Oh dear god no! _He thought, feeling sick to his stomach. Why had she been in the room? How had she found her old shinobi tools? _Had she figured out what had happened to her? That I was the one who hurt her? _Kakashi wondered as his whole body started to tremble.

Oh god, oh god, oh god- he was going to be sick! He thought as bile burned the back of his throat. **_There's no time to fall apart now pup._**His inner demon said before telling him, **_You're mate and pup are in trouble. You need to find them. Now! _**

Kakashi took a moment to pull himself together, reminding himself over and over to breathe as he pushed aside his fear and once again tore through the home that he shared with Naru to go search for her.


End file.
